F 74 
■S93 H4 



HISTORICAL SKETCH 

First Congregational Church 

STURBRIDGE : MASSACHUSETTS 

By Gaorgc H. Haynas 



^isitorttal ^feettf) 



OF THE 



Jfirst Congregational Cljurtf) 

STURBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS 



By GEORGE H. HAYNES 

Read at the Dedication of the New Church 
May 11, 1910 



Worcester 

The Davis Press 

1910 






WAR tOi«n 



V 



Historical Sketch of the First Congregational 
Church in Sturbridge, Massachusetts 

By GEORGE H. HAYNES 



Read at the Dedication of the New Church, May 11, 1910 



The. settling of an orthodox minister and the promoting 
of a land-development scheme! — To-day, no combination of 
activities could seem much more incongruous. And yet, in 
the record of a land grant by our Massachusetts General 
Court is found the first point in the history of this Church of 
Christ. For it is to be observed that land developing two 
hundred years ago in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay was 
done with other methods and other objects than those com- 
monly attributed to companies of shrewd men who secure 
grants of the public domain yet remaining undeveloped, it 
may be in Montana or in Alaska. 

Three times a group of Medfield men petitioned the 
General Court for a grant of land in this frontier wilderness. 
Twice their prayer was rejected. The representatives at 
Boston apparently doubted the ability of this inhospitable 
region to support a settlement. But the promoters were 
importunate. In their third petition — that of September, 
1729 — they say: ''your petitoners Humbly begg Leave To 
Inform this Hon''^^ Court That Although there Is Indeed 
much poor Land Contained Therein, yett There is Also A 
Considrable quantity of Good Land fitt for Settlements And 
in our Humble Opinion a sufficiency To Enable your petitioners 
by the Blessing of God, in Concurrence with Diligence And 



Industry, to Support the ordinary Charges of a Township. " 
In granting this petition, the General Court made it one of 
the essential conditions "that the Proprietors shall Settle an 
Orthodox Minister And Lay out to him an Home Lott . . . 
which Lott Shall Draw the fiftyeth Part of the Province 
Land [10,000 acres] Now granted." 

Though allowed seven years in which to comply with the 
conditions, the Proprietors gave prompt attention to the 
obligations thus imposed upon them. At their second meet- 
ing (July 9, 1730) they accepted a committee's recommenda- 
tion that the meeting-house should "Stand upon sutable 
Land att or Near the Meeting of the Roads on the Land w''^ 
was Gov' Saltonstalls farm on the West side of Sugar Brook. " 
Their negotiations with the Saltonstall heirs were successful, 
so that a year later they were ready to vote: "That the 
propriety will build a Meeting House as soon as Conveintly 
they Can"; "That the Meeting House Shall be fifty foot in 
Length & fourty foot in Width And Two & Twenty foot Be- 
tween the sells & plates" ; and to determine that the building 
should be enclosed within a year and finished within two years. 
To this object they devoted £540, — nearly all of that 
sum being the total proceeds of "the Seven Supernum- 
erous Lotts" not laid out to the original petitioners for the 
land grant. Having by formal vote determined to "promote 
preaching att New Medfield so Caled," the Proprietors de- 
volved upon their "Annual Committee" the duty "to take 
Care of & provide for preaching att New Medfield by pro- 
curing a Minister or Ministers and Taking Care for his Enter- 
tainment, " and a charge of 15 shillings was levied upon each 
original Proprietor, "the Minister's Lott Exempted." Six 
months later the Committee reported that they had paid Mr. 
Cowell (apparently the first preacher of the Gospel in this place) 
" £28 and Eight pound for his Boarding, " and thereupon it 
was decided to raise a levy of 40 shilhngs upon each Proprietor's 
right, to "promote preaching att New Medfield for the year 
Insuing. " 



All these proceedings, it is to be noticed, took place at 
Medfield, separated by fifty or sixty miles of hard travel from 
the community which they concerned. In the autumn of 
1735 the Proprietors discussed whether they should "Act 
any thing Refering to the Calling of & setthng of a Minister, " 
but decided that they would "waite upon the Inhabitants 
three Months Longer from this Date." The meeting was 
then adjourned to the eleventh of the following February, 
when the Proprietors were to assemble at the meeting-house 
in New Medfield at nine o'clock in the morning. In order to 
attend this meeting, probably not a few of the Proprietors 
made their first laborious journey, in midwinter, to this 
frontier hamlet; then for the first time they saw the lands 
which had been allotted them, and the meeting-house for 
which they had been assessed. That building stood about 
ten rods south of the place where you are now sitting, approx- 
imately on the site of the District No. 1 school house. It 
need cause no surprise that the record of that first gathering 
of the Proprietors within that sacred edifice reads: "Uoted 
to adjourn the Meeting on hour and then To Meete att the 
House of M' Stacy." A meeting-house without fireplace 
might be suitable for two or three long religious services on 
a February Sunday, but for a business conference on a week- 
day the Proprietors sought a more temperate climate. 
Gathered around a roaring fireplace in a private house, they 
promptly gave their official approval to "the Uote of the 
Inhabitants of the Town of New Medfield That the first 
Wednesday of March next be set Apart for prayer & fasting 
to seek Du-ection for the making Choice of a Gospell Minister, 
to settle in s*^ New Medfield," and voted that the pastors of 
churches in Medfield (the mother town), Brookfield, Oxford 
and Dudley be taken into council in "the affaire Referring 
To the Making Choise of an orthodox Minister." 

When the Proprietors next met, two months later, in 
Medfield, it was reported that the deliberations of the settlers 
here had resulted in a unanimous vote in favor of calling Mr. 



Caleb Rice. The Proprietors accordingly approved and con- 
firmed "the joynt Agreement of our Children & others Dwelling 
upon our Lands att a place Called New Medfield in Calling 
M' Caleb Rice to settle . . in the work of the Ministry," 
and voted to grant and settle upon him, his heirs and assigns, 
"the severall Allottments & Right Laid out & Reserved for 
a Minister in s*^ New Medfield," and to pay him £200 "in 
bills of Creedett for settlement & Incouragement . . . Upon 
Condition he settle & Continue During his Naturall Life in 
s*^ New Medfield an orthodox Minister According to the per- 
fect faith of the Churches in this Country as by our province 
Law are Establisht." For the first three years his annual 
salary was to be £110 and thereafter £120. Mr. Rice's reply 
was that he considered the offer and proposals " in the Generall 
To be handsom & generous." He demurred, however, at 
the agreement's being made conditional upon his settling 
and continuing "During Naturall Life" in the town, and the 
Proprietors consented to the omission of the phrase. The 
financial proposition he was ready to accept, but adds: "Yet 
not being so thoroughly Acquainted with the Charges & 
Expenses of Living, if in process of time my Circumstances 
should Require & Call for More [he was but twenty-four years 
old and recently married !] I should Depend & Rely upon 
it that as I Give my selfe to the work of the Ministry; so I 
should Receive a decent & hansom support." He requested 
in addition to what had been offered "such a quantity of 
fire wood Annually as shall be thought a Necessary & Con- 
veinant Supply." This request seemed reasonable to the 
Proprietors, and on these terms the contract was closed.* 



*The Rev. Joseph S. Clark, — whose Historical Sketch has left all lovers of Stur- 
bridge his debtors, and whose son, the Rev. Joseph B. Clark, D. D., a native of this 
town, has just rendered a doubly filial service in preaching the sermon at the dedication 
of this Church, — estimated that the financial proposition thus made to the first settled 
minister in this town, reduced from bills of credit of 1736 to the money of 1836 meant 
this: a settlement of $160; a salary of $96; 50 cords of firewood annually, and a farm 
of about 500 acres. In considering these money payments, it should be borne in mind 
that at that time corn cost but ninepence a bushel, and fourteen cents was a day's 
wage. The land which fell to Mr. Rice was widely distributed. The writer is indebted 



The Proprietors ratified these financial arrangements 
and the further action of ''our Children & others being In- 
habitants Dwelling in New Medfield so Called" in fixing upon 
the twenty-ninth of September, 1736, to be "set apart as a 
Day for Imbodying a Church in s'^ place." On that day, 
164 years ago, this Church was organized. The original 
Covenant is still extant. It reads as follows : 

NEW MEDFIELD CHH. COVENANT. 

Sep'" 29 : 1736.— 

We whose names are hereunto Subscribed apprehending 
our Selves called of God into the Chh state of the Gospel do 
first of all confess our Selves unworthy to be so highly fa- 
voured of the Lord, & admire that free & rich Grace of his 
which triumphs over so great unworthiness, & then with 
an humble reliance on the aids of Grace therein promised 
for them, that in a sense of their inability to do any good 
thing, do humbly wait on him for all: we now thankfully 
lay hold on his Covenant, & would Choose the things that 
please him. 

We declare our Serious Belief of the Christian Religion 
as contained in the Sacred Scriptures, & with Such a view 
thereof as the Confession of faith in our Churches has exhib- 
ited ; heartily resolving to conform our lives unto the rules 
of that holy Religion as long as we five in the world. 

We give up our Selves unto the Lord Jehovah who is 
the Father, & the Son, & the Holy Spirit, & a vouch him this 
day to be our God, our Father, our Saviour, & our Leader & 
receive him as our Portion forever. 

We give up our Selves unto the blessed Jesus, who is 
the Lord Jehovah, & adhere to him as the head of his people. 



to Mr. Levi B.Chase, the best-informed student of Sturbridge history, for the following 
data as to the probable location of some of these tracts: 1 . 100 acres, now mainly occupied 
by the McKelvey place, Fairview Park and the Eastern part of Mr. William Farquhar'6 
farm; 2. 68 acres, the part of the Fiskdale Mill Go's farm next to the Brimfield line 
north of the road to Brimfield; 3 . 58 acres, included in the farm of the late A. H. Morse 
in the southern part of Southbridge; 4. About 15 acres, now a part of the Southwick 
farm on Fisk Hill. Within two years, Mr. Rice sold about 75 acres of his land for £100, 
and before 1748 he had sold about 150 acres more, for £350, "old tenor." It seeins 
clear that, considering the time and place, the provision made for the first minister in 
Sturbridge was not niggardly. 



in the Covenant of grace, & rely on him as our Priest & 
our Prophet & our King, to bring us unto eternal blessedness. 
We acknowledge our everlasting & indispensible obli- 
gations, to glorify our God in all the Duties, of a Godly, & 
a Sober, & a religious life; & very particularly in the duties 
of a Chh State, & a body of people associated for an obedi- 
ence to him, in all the ordinances of the Gospel: And we 
thereupon depend upon his gracious assistances for our 
faithfull discharge of the duties thus incumbent on us. 

We desire & intend, & (with Dependance on his prom- 
ised, & powerful grace) we engage to walk together as a 
Chh of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the faith & order of the 
Gospel so far as we shall have the same revealed unto us: 
Conscienciously attending the publick worship of God, 
the Sacraments of this new Testament, the Discipline of 
his Kingdom, & all his holy institutions, in communion 
with one another, & watchfully avoiding sinfull stumbling 
blocks & contentions, as becomes a people whom the Lord 
hath bound up together in a bundle of life . 

At the same time do we also present our offspring with 
us unto the Lord, purposing with his help to do our part in 
the method of a religious Education, that they may be the 
Lords. 

And all this we do flying to the blood of the everlasting 
Covenant for the pardon of our many errors, & praying that 
the glorious Lord who is the great Shepherd would prepare 
& strengthen us for every good work to do his will, working 
in us that which will be well pleasing to Him; To whom be 
glory forever & ever Amen. 

Caleb Rice Jonathan Perry 

Henry Fisk Danell Thurstin 

Moses Allen Ebenezer Stearns 

Jonathan Fosket George Watkins 

Joseph Baker Joseph Cheney 

Joseph Mopfit Solomon Rood 

Joseph Allen Daniel Fisk 

Ezekiel Upham 

Having complied with the conditions laid down by the 
General Court and within seven years established here 50 
families, each having "an House of Eighteen feet Square at 
Least," and having "settled an orthodox Minister," the 
Proprietors now petitioned for incorporation, and their 

8 



prayer w'as granted, June 24, 1738, the new town being named 
''Sturbridge."* 

With the incorporation of the Town, there began a series 
of compHcated relations between Town, Church, and Pro- 
prietors, which it would be as hopeless as futile for us to 
attempt to unravel. An amusing illustration of the tangle is 
found in the warrant for the very fu-st Sturbridge town- 
meeting; the article relating to the election of town officers 
is immediately followed by one which reads thus: "to furnish 
M" Rices Desk with a Gushing." It is not profitable to 
speculate on whether the ''Gushing" was desu-ed to ease the 
pastor's hands or his hearers' ears; and to this day the record 
leaves us in suspense as to whether it was or was not provided. 
The parson's salary was a regular town appropriation, some- 
times provided for by assessment, sometimes out of the land 
tax. Each year the town made provision for cutting and 
hauling Mr. Rice's firewood, in quantities varying from thirty 
to fifty cords, sometimes electing a man to do this work, and 
sometimes devolving it upon the selectmen.! The town chose 
a person to "take Gare of theu* meeting house." Appro- 
priations for such purposes had been made for several years 
before the town came "into measures to provide a School," 
— a proposition which was "voted in the Negetive" in 1740, 
and not adopted till two years later. In 1740 the Proprietors 
voted that the Town of Sturbridge should "have the property 

♦From this time on, the Proprietors' records are of little interest. Their meetings 
were rare, sometimes held in Medfield, sometimes at "the Public Meeting House in 
Sturbridge, " and later in the Baptist meeting-house, from time to time. In the next 
few years one of their principal concerns was to relieve the necessities of John Comins, 
who claimed to have suffered losses in building the Proprietors' meeting-house. The 
benefit of a certain tract of land was granted to him, and after his death was admin- 
istered for many years for his widow and children. 

tThe Town Records contain warrants for payments to the minister, and receipts 
signed by his own hand. e.g. 

1741 /2 Februy — 26. M' treasurer please to pay to M' Caleb Rice two pounds ten 
Shillings for getting his own wood from March to June in the year 1740, 
as our order and advice 

Isaac Newel 1 

Joseph Bakeh ?■ Select-men. 

Henry Fisk J 



the use and benifit forever of such roads and other lands given 
by Saltonstalls hairs to the s*^ proprietors." This, by the 
terms of the warrant for their meeting, included that land 
which had been given by the Saltonstall heirs for "a meeting- 
house place a burying place and a training feild together 
with the high ways through the s*^ farm. " ; but it did not include 
the meeting-house which the Proprietors had built at their 
own expense. 

In the twenty-three years of this first pastorate, the cost 
of supporting the preaching the Gospel in Sturbridge was 
again and again "Largely Debaited" in town-meeting. The 
chief difficulty lay in the quite rapidly changing value of the 
currency. In March, 1741—2, the town granted Mr. Rice 
£20 additional, "In Consideration of Provitions being so 
deer. ' ' Payment was made in ' ' old tenor, ' ' which was sin-ink- 
ing in pm-chasing power. The sums were increased until 
1747 when it was voted to "make a grant of Eighty pounds 
old tenor addition To his Sallory for this prasent year and 
that The Manif actorys of the Land To Be a Rule for us To act 
By in order To our fulfilling our Contract maid with him 
for his maintainance as our Minister." Yet only two years 
later the sum was increased to "foure Hundred and Seventy 
pounds Eleven Shilings and one peny for M" Rices Sallory 
for the present year." In 1750—2 came an abrupt change; 
"the Town maid a Grant of fifty pounds Lawful mony To 
M' Rice for his Sallory the present year" and a like sum the 
following year, the parson "finding him self his own fier wood 
this was by a very Clear vote of the Town." In 1755 there 
was long debate over the question whether "the Town Will 
Settel a Cartain Sum of Mony for M'' Rices Yearly Sallory 
and To State it upon Dollors or upon Provition." A com- 
mittee of nine was chosen to discuss the matter with the par- 
son, but at the next meeting it was decided " not to State M"" 
Rices Sallory," but to grant "Sixty pounds to be assest upon 
the poles and Estates in this town for M' Rice Seport the 
present year his finding his own fierwood." [£21 was that 

10 



year's appropriation for "Schooling the Children. "] Yet a 
twelvemonth had not passed before the subject had to be 
threshed out again in town-meeting. This time Mr. Rice 
was summoned, and declared that £55 would satisfy him, 
he furnishing his own fuel. After further debate, a com- 
mittee was sent to inquire whether a smaller sum would not 
content him, and reported that he "Said to them that If the 
Town would Give him fifty three pounds Six Shillings and 
Eight pence yearly for his Seport he Should be Intirely Con- 
tent and Easey." Thereupon the question was put whether 
the town would agree to pay this sum " unto M'' Rice . . . 
for his Seport or Sallory Etch year he Shall Continue to preach 
the Gospel to us in this Town, . . and it past in the Afirm- 
mitive,"— and that fantastic sum, "in Lawfull Mony," con- 
tinued to be appropriated annually until Mr. Rice's death 
in 1759.* 

Next to questions as to ministerial charges, the regulating 
of the pews was the one which gave most difficulty. Tliree 
years after the incorporation of the Town, it was voted that 
persons to whom pews were assigned should "enjoye [note the 
word!] them with their famelies Setting with them. During 
their life time" and a widow should "enjoye the Same with 
her family during her widdowhood," after which it should 
revert to the town, "to be disposed of as they Shall think fit 
the town paying the Cost of bulding the Same." A com- 
mittee of three was then chosen to manage the affair of "lot- 
ting out the room for the pews," having "a due regard to 



*It is little to the credit of Sturbridge that wrangling over money followed this 
worthy man to his grave. At a special town-meeting, Oct. 15, 1759, the question 
whether the Town would "Receive the Accompts of the Funeral Charges of our Late 
Paster Deceas<^" "was Largely Debaited upon & after the Particular articles of the 
Funeral Charge of our Late Paster Decs'* ware again Read it was put to uote whether 
the Town would allow the whole of the Accompts of Said Funeral Charge as then 
Brought in; it past in the Negetive. " A grant of £8 was made, and it was then voted 
that Mr. Rice's salary "Should Sease & Terminate at his Death." In considering 
this apparently niggardly action, it should not be forgotten that Caleb Rice had had 
the advantage of a fiftieth part of the land originally granted, and that an "addi- 
tional parcel " had been given him at a later date. 

11 



age, to the first beginning in the town and to their baring 
Charges in the town, and to their usefullness. " Four or five 
months later, March 1, 1741 — 2, the committee (Daniel Fisk, 
Capt. Moses Marcy and Dea. Isaac Newell) appointed for 
this fearsome task reported in town-meeting that they had 
"planed Divided and Numbered Said room into Eighteen 
parts for Eighteen pews, and have agreed to lodge Said plan 
with, the town Clerk for a gide and rule in building Said pews, 
. . . and we . . . did agree that according to the Instruc- 
tions given us by the town, the following persons ought to 
have the Several pew Spots and ther liberty of pitching in 
the following order, viz. — Moses Marcy the first Choice, . "* 
and so on down to the eighteenth, whose feelings even at this 
late day must make some appeal to the sympathetic imagi- 
nation. 

In the early days the disposal of the pews of persons 
who had removed from town was made in town-meeting 
to specific individuals. Thus, it was voted. May 22, 1758, 
that ''Jonathan Foskit have the pew Spot the north Side of 
the West Dore upon Shuch Tarms as the other pews in Town 
are built upon." Later it became customary to sell such 
pews ''at Publick vendue to the highest bidder," withholding 
them from sale unless they " fetched more than the first cost, " 
which was to be paid to the heirs of the late pew-owner. 
Meantime the town was paying for the care and ordinary 
repairs of the meeting-house, and a sizable bill " for the bords 
and nails for the Ministors pew old tennor" was ordered paid 
out of the "Town Stock." 

But what had the Church been doing during these years? 
Its records are very meagre, and at the best could give little 
idea of the most vital activities. They record the election 



♦Records of Sturbridge, Vol. I, pp. 35-36. It may be of interest to record that 
this grading of these ancient Sturbridge worthies was in the following order: — 1, 
Moses Marcy; 2, Henry Fisk; 3, Dea. Isaac Newel; 4, James Deneson; 5, Rowland Tailor; 
6, Daniel Fisk; 7, Joseph Baker; 8, Joseph Cheney; 9, David Shumway; 10, David 
Morse; 11, Moses Allen; 12, Joseph Allen; 13, Joseph Smith; 14, Hensdel Clark; 15, 
Ezekiel Upham; 16, John Harding; 17, Caleb Harding; 18, Edward Foster. 

12 



of deacons, and indicate the carrying on of the regular re- 
ligious exercises. At the first business meeting of the Church 
after its organization, it was voted to "move the matter of 
furnishing the Communion Table with vessels proper for the 
administering of the Lord's Supper ... to the Proprietors 
of New Medfield to see whether they would contribute" 
toward that purpose.* 

A principal item of business at the annual meetings of 
the Church — often the only item — was to vote that every 
member pay to the deacon named three or four shillings apiece 
to provide for the communion bread and wine for the ensuing 
year. When Deacon Baker was asked, one year, to report 
" what the state of the Church property is, " he reported simply 
in regard to the receipts and expenditures for this one purpose. 

Mr. Rice's labors were productive of a gradual increase 
in the membership of the Church. During his twenty-three 
years of service, 100 members were added to the original 
fourteen. But there occurred, nevertheless, a notable se- 
cession, which figured largely both in church and town debates. 
As a result of a period of religious quickening, the "New Lights" 
or "Separates" came out from many of the conservative 
churches in the Province. In this vicinity about fifteen were of 
the new persuasion and ceased attending service at the center 
meeting-house, having built for themselves a house of worship 
near what is now Globe Village. This number included two 
who had held the office of deacon, and their withdrawal was 
the occasion of anxious meetings of the Church. A com- 
mittee of three waited upon Deacon Fisk to "discourse 
with him, & see if he would return to the Chh. & serve still as 
a Deacon, " but they reported that " he could not in conscience 
join with the Chh. " As the secession grew, theChurch voted : 
"thedesireof the brethren of the Chh. [is] that those persons 
who are members of this Chh. & have separated from the 



♦Apparently these vessels were bought by the pastor, for twenty years later, after 
his death, the Church voted to pay his widow £1, 3s., out of the Church stock, on this 
account. 

13 



public Worship of God . . . give reasons in wTiting." 
Thirteen persons were notified by the pastor, and at the next 
meeting of the Cliurch they presented the reasons for their 
withdrawah These the Church declared not sufficient or 
satisfactory, and put upon record ''the desire of the Chh. that 
their eyes might be opened that they might see their error 
they have run into." (March 24, 1748—9.) [A few years 
later this group of seceders became the nucleus of a regular 
Baptist church, with which fraternal relations were soon 
established.] 

The records of our Church contain no indication that 
these her wayward children were disquieted by anything 
else than their own consciences and the reproachful admon- 
itions of the mother Church whom they had forsaken. But 
"profane history" tells us that the Baptist preacher from 
Brimfield, who caused this agitation in Stur bridge, was seized 
by the constable for preaching here, dragged out of town, " and 
thrust into prison as a stroller and a vagabond," and Deacon 
Fiske and four other Sturbridge worthies were imprisoned 
in Worcester gaol. That such pains and penalties fell upon 
pious men was a consequence of the union of "Church and 
State" which still prevailed in this Province. Not the the- 
ological but the financial aspects of this revival made it the 
theme of several heated town-meetings. These Separates 
were bearing heavy burdens for maintaining their own re- 
ligious services, and naturally wished exemption from paying 
rates for the support of Mr. Rice, whose ministrations they 
no longer desu-ed. But the letter of the Province law was 
against them; the minister here at the center meeting-house 
was clearly the one towards whose settlement and main- 
tainance "all the inhabitants and ratable estates lying 
within such town or part of a town, or place limited by law 
for upholding the public worship of God, shall be obliged to 
pay in proportion." Hence the town showed no disposition 
to exempt these men, and upon their refusal to pay, sundry 
of their goods and chattels were seized. Thus, in 1750 and 

14 • 



1751 the assessors took from Deacon Fiske five pewter plates 
and a cow; from Jonathan Perry a saddle and a steer; from 
John Streeter a kettle and pothooks, and from Mr. Blunt a 
trammel, shovel, tongs and a heifer. These forcible exactions 
aroused bitter feeling.* The town records give evidence of 
angry debates, and also of earnest and diplomatic efforts 
to reconcile the opposing interests, and soon it came about 
that ministerial rates ceased to be levied upon those whom 
the assessors knew to be regular supporters of the Baptist 
church organization. 

In the two years which intervened between the death 
of the first pastor and the settlement of his successor, it is 
of interest to note the responsibilities assumed respectively 



*A Massachusetts law, originally passed in 1728, and renewed for a period of ten 
years in 1747, exempted Baptists and Quakers from ministerial rates or taxes, if these 
dissenters from the Standing Order could show certificates that they were members 
of and contributing to religious organizations of their own denomination, in the com- 
munity in which they lived. Certificates for the members of this group of Sturbridge 
"Separates" had been written by two leading members of the second Baptist Church 
in Boston, but the Sturbridge authorities seem to have questioned whether these "Sep- 
arates "were entitled to exemption as regular Baptists. Some details of this contro- 
versy are to be found in Backus's " A History of New England, with Particular Refer- 
ence to the Denomination of Christians Called Baptists, " 2d. Ed., p. 94, and notes 1 
and 2. The editor refers to "Rev. S. Hall's 'Collection of Papers' in which is included 
'The Testimony of a People inhabiting the Wilderness,'" — an account of the begin- 
nings of the Baptist Church in Sturbridge written by Henry Fisk, brother of Deacon 
David Fisk. 

At least one special town-meeting was devoted to an effort to compose these 
differences, March 27, 1752. "The Seperats was desir*^ To Sete them Selves in the Body 
of Seets un the mens Side and the other in the Seets un the womans Side which they 
Did: the modrator [Moses Marcy] then desiered that thire might be a frindly Conferrance, 
and to See if by Sum means or other Wee Could not make up the deferance betwen 
us Without going into the Law: and after a Long debate the Seperats Was askt Whether 
If the Creators and all the Goods that was Taken from them by Destress for thire 
Minister Rats in the year 1751 was Returned Would Satisfie them So that we might 
I^ive to gether Like Cristen frinds and nabouers they answered it would Satisfie them 
for that year with Resenable Satisfaction, and no further — then they ware desiered 
to bring in in writing what would Content them which they Did, accordingly Which 
was to Return from the years 1749 and one for the year 1748 which was John Streator. 
It was then Earnestly requested of the Seperats that as wee then did and do now beleve 
we had a good Righ to do as wee did yet for peace Sake that wee might meet one an- 
other and agree but this was Refus"^ by them. " The Separates withdrew from the 
town-meeting after the town had voted not to make restitution of "what had been 
taken from them for Two years last past." The town chose a committee to "treet 
further with them, " but there is no record of the result of their efforts. 

15 



by the Town and by the Church. The town, at the same 
meeting which acted in regard to the late pastor's funeral 
charges, made a grant of half a year's salary, at the old figure, 
to provide preaching at the center meeting-house, and chose 
a committee to have the matter in charge. But in later 
months the town did not hesitate to give very pointed in- 
structions to this committee. Thus, "After Sum Consider- 
able Debait" (January 7, 1760) it was "Put to note by 
Diuideing the House & the Town all noted to Direct the Com- 
mitee to M' Storrs for 4 Sabaths Preaching Saue onlely one 
Man." A few months later, "After a Long Debate the 
Question Was put Whether The town would Aply to M"^ 
Whetney to preach any Longer with us and it past in the 
negitive," and again the committee was directed to apply 
to Mr. Storrs for further service. 

Meantime the Church was seeking guidance in its mo- 
mentous choice. In July, 1760, a fast was held; pastors 
of neighboring churches were called on for help, and the 
congregation were bidden to join in "seeking to God in Jesus 
Christ for light and direction in the settlement of a gospel 
minister, and to the Head of the Church to fit and qualify 
one with his gifts and graces for to be a minister of Jesus 
Christ for us." During the summer months the desu-ed 
leading seems to have been felt, for when, in an October town- 
meeting, the question was put "Whether the Town Directed 
the Committee to Apply To M' Joshua Pain to preach with 
us a longer time then he has as yet Ingaged for in order for 
Settlement Try*^ By Deuideing the house and it past m the 
afiremetive to a man 72 being present." In January the 
Church appointed another day of fasting and prayer "m 
order to give M' Joshua Paine a call to be our Minister." 
This call was given unanimously, and a few weeks later, m 
town-meeting, on the question of concurring with the Church 
in this action, "thire was ninty three Vots brought in and al 
for M' Joshua Paine." It was further voted to give him, 
£200 for a settlement and an annual salary of £66, 13s., 



16 



4d., while for the expenses attending his ordination there 
was appropriated £13, 6s., 8d., — precisely the sum to a 
penny which had just been appropriated for "schooling the 
children in Town" for a year! On the seventeenth of June, 
1761, upon a platform erected under the brow of this hill, 
in the presence of a great throng, the Rev. Joshua Paine, 
was ordained, and then began the longest pastorate which 
this Church has ever enjoyed, a service of 38 years.* 

At about this time there was frequent debate in town- 
meetings over petitions for permission to build pews in the 
meeting-house. Thus, in March, 1761, half a dozen men 
requested "Liberty of Building apue over the mens Stairs," 
and this was "Excepted upon the same Destrictions of the 
other pues. " Two months later a petition of six men praying 
" for Liberty to build a pew wher the hind Seat is in the front 
Gallery for them and Wifes" was "Granted Resarueing 
Room in Said pew for a Thything [man]t to Set." In 1762 
there was presented a petition signed by fourteen women, 
"Shewing that the Hind Seat in the Womans Side Gallery 
is So Low that they Cannot See the Minister and that the 
other Seats are full and Crouded that so that it is uery un- 
comfortable Setting." "After Sum Debait" they were 
granted "Liberty to build a Pew where the Hind Seat is." 

The meeting-house, as these requests indicate, was be- 
coming inadequate, and it was a constantly recurring question 
whether it was worth while to make any repairs upon it. 
In 1773 the town voted to build a new meeting-house, but 



*Most unfortunately the records for a period of more than thirty years have been 
lost. It is said that Mr. Paine's house was broken into, and the church book dis- 
appeared with other things stolen. , 

tThe tithingman in Puritan New England had other duties than the preserving 
of order and decorum in the meeting-house. He was supposed to see that everyone 
went to church, and that there was no travel on the Sabbath except in cases of neces- 
sity or mercy. Throughout the week, as well as on Sunday, he had a paternal oversight 
over family life and the orderliness of the community. For a comparison of the tithing- 
man and the constable, see H. B. Adams, Proceedings of the American Antiquarian 
Society, Oct. 21, 1881. Tithingmen were chosen in the first Sturbridge town-meetings, 
and from two to five of these officers were annually elected until about 1840, — long 
after ministerial rates had ceased to be levied in town-meeting. 

17 



some months later this action was reconsidered and it "was 
the Mind of the Town to omit for the present Building a new 
Meeting House." For the next few years the thoughts of 
the people were engrossed and their purses burdened by the 
Revolutionary War, so that till peace was made no further 
projects for building were brought forward. In April, 1783, 
however, a committee "reported unanimously the meeting- 
house was so decayed it was not worth Repairing," and May 
13, 1783, by a vote of 50 to 13 it was decided to " Build a New 
Meeting House near the Spot where the Old one Now Stands. " 

Probably there is not one person in the assembly gathered 
here to-day, to whom the great white meeting-house which 
our forebears were then about to build did not come to seem 
almost as much a natural, an inevitable feature of the Stur- 
bridge landscape as is Fisk Hill. As a matter of fact, how- 
ever, at every step in the locating, planning, and building 
of that meeting-house there arose such a clash of opinions as 
would seem to indicate that the belligerent energies formerly 
directed against the British were here finding a new and much- 
needed outlet.* 

Again and again decisions were made by a single vote. 
In the first place, there was opposition to building any new 
church, and five times in the two years following the above 
vote, that question was forced,t the last time (April 11, 1785, 
— nearly a year after the frame was raised) the question being 
"whether it was the mind of the Town that the Building 
Committee should Desist from any further Compleating the 

*A reading of the town records at the time of the building of the town hall deepens 
the conviction that in the days of our grandsires, when building operations were con- 
cerned, there was a high percentage of " cantankerousness " in the atmosphere of Stur- 
bridge Common. 

tOver-hasty action on the strength of one of these votes seems indicated by a 
bill presented by Col. Crafts for charges against the Town in 1784. It contains the 
following interesting items: 

"to dinnering Master Paine 1784 when keeping School 66 din. s 1 . . 8 . . 
for three days Service procuring a Master Workm" for the Meeting house 

at 18/ receiv"^ an order for 9 / 9 . . 

for Boarding him & horse 2 days — & Liquor 5 . . 

to 2 dollars paid him for his disapointment 12 . . 

18 



New Meetting House" this was "pased in the Negetive by 
a very large Majority." 

The second question over which differences arose was as 
to the precise location for the new edifice. Opinions seemed 
in irreconcilable conflict. Accordingly, "to Advise where 
in their Oppinion a Meeting House ought to stand in order 
to accommodate the Inhabitants," there was chosen a dis- 
interested committee of distinguished citizens of other towns, 
to "Senter the Town" and ''pitch upon a Spot for the New 
proposed Meeting House," 'Hhe Town to abide by their 
Judgment." At tliree different town-meetings the makeup 
of this committee was changed. The last named upon the 
records consisted of " Gen^ Putnam of Rutland, Cap* Simeon 
Smith of Ashford, and Edward Rawson, Esq' of Leicester," 
(March 29, 1784). The dimensions for the new building 
were debated in town-meeting, determined, reconsidered, 
and determined again. The first building committee of ten 
was dismissed at the end of two months and a new one con- 
stituted, having a minority of the members of the old one; 
and its makeup was later changed. How the building oper- 
ations should be financed was another anxious question. 
After various other projects had been rejected, the town 
made a grant of £300 to be levied on the " Polls and Estates 
of the Inhabitants of the Town belonging to the Rev*^ M" 
Paines Society for the purpose of Building the New Meeting 
House," and a grant of £600 "to be leuied on the Pews." 
This was reconsidered later, but seems finally to have been 
carried into effect, after at least one committee on pew apprais- 
al had been displaced by another.* 

*In an undated document, headed "Estimation Paper, " 72 names are listed, and 
against each name is written a sum of money which probably stood as a gauge of the 
man's ministerial tax and as a basis for the allotment of pews in the meeting-house 
that was soon to be built, in accordance with the vote: "He that paid most for Real 
& Personal Estate in the last Ministerial Tax, to draw the first Pew." (Dec. 29, 1783.) 
The sums range from £20 -1 4s -7d down to £4-14s-6d. In two or three cases a son 
is grouped with his father. That this belongs to the years immediately following the 
Revolutionary War and that the Rev. Joshua Paine ministered to a branch of the 
Church Militant is indicated by the fact that this list of 72 names included one Colonel, 
12 Captains and 11 Lieutenants, — one in every three bore a military titlel 

19 



The massive frame of the new structure had been raised 
in June, 1784, but it was nearly two and a half years later 
before the building was ready to be dedicated. As it ap- 
proached completion, the town authorized the building com- 
mittee to "call on the Inhabitants of this Town who are Dis- 
posed freely to afford their service with their teams" to 
assemble on a stated day in the first week of November "to 
Wharf e up the New Meeting House," — an admirable prece- 
dent in co-operation, which has been followed here within 
the past few weeks. There yet remained the task of examin- 
ing the report of the building committee, and the town "went 
largely into debate over the subject," at three or four town- 
meetings, finally choosing for this auditing task "a committee 
from the Baptist Society that were not Interested in the Center 
Meeting House" ; and on the basis of their report, after further 
debate at several meetings, an adjustment was made. With 
the sale and removal of the old meeting-house, and with the 
recording of the certificates of pew ownership in the town book, 
this enterprise of many years was brought to a conclusion. 

During the early years of Mr. Paine's ministry there 
were constant distractions arising from the events which led 
up to the separation from England and the Revolutionary 
War. In the midst of these disturbances, Mr. Paine showed 
himself a worthy leader of the church militant. He was 
made chairman of the committee to "Draft Something bind- 
ing For Every Individual in this Town to sign" pledging 
strict observance of the Association (the non-importation 
agreement). On the first Monday in December, 1774, on 
the training-field there was a great concourse of the "Com- 
panies of Foot, The Minuet Men, the Troop all belonging to 
Town ; the Company of A. lar"" men, all Marched into the Meet- 
ing House in good order. Haveing fixed themselves togather, 
there being Silence & good order . . after Sollem Prayer 
to God & Singing, the Rev^ M' Joshua Paine Preached a 
Sermon from Psalms." Five months before the battle of 
Lexington, our Sturbridge citizens in town-meeting v/ere 

20 



already providing military stores, when Mr. Paine ''Proposed 
to the Town that He would give one Half Barrel of Powder 
to the Town as Soon as it could be procur*^," an offer which 
was accepted with thanks. When it proved impossible to 
secure this powder, he made a new proposition; "I find it 
still my Duty to bare my part in the Calamities that are 
Common to us," he wrote, and therefore he made the town 
a present of £100 old tenor, and further offered, on security 
from the town, to wait one year for what should be due on 
his salary the following June, "and Longer unless Mortality 
or Something Extraordinary prevents." 

A few years later, June 17, 1778, the town voted "to a 
man" that some consideration ought to be made to Mr. Paine 
on account of the appalling depreciation of the Continental 
currency, and two men were chosen from each school district 
to collect subscriptions of money or "necessary Articles for 
the Support of Life for M' Paine. " In 1779, when the town 
was disposed to pay to Mr. Paine the money for which he 
had offered to wait, a committee reported that "hayeing 
Innumerated a number of articles of Necessaries Provisions 
&c." . . "upon an everage of the above Mentioned articles 
According to Calculation the amount is Twenty for one 
increased Since the year 1775." Accordingly for the £53 
which the parson relinquished in 1775 he was paid £1060 
in the depreciated currency of four years later. During the 
later years of his ministry, repeated adjustments of his salary 
had to be made because of currency changes. Mr. Paine 
died in the closing week of 1799. The town paid his funeral 
charges and continued his salary to the end of his fiscal year. 
In town-meeting a committee chosen to supply the pulpit, 
was directed to consult Mr. Leonard, the highly respected 
pastor of the Baptist Society, and during the winter months 
under his ministrations a united people met once more in 
the center meeting-house. 

The Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 went a long 
distance toward divorcing Church and State by its requirement 

21 



that "all moneys paid by the subject to the support of public 
worship . . shall, if he require it, be uniformly paid to the 
support of the public teacher . . of his own religious sect 
or denomination, provided there be any on whose instruc- 
tions he attends." Accordingly, in the town-meetings of 
the following decade, petitions for the abatement of minis- 
terial rates "since the Constitution took place" are frequent. 
In 1782 a committee reported that "all . . who act from 
principals of Religion mentioned in S*^ Requests who have 
petitioned for abatement of Ministerial Taxes ought of Right 
to be abated, upon producing proper Certificates as the Law 
directs;" and they were bidden to bring their certificates to 
town-meeting where from time to time discrimination was 
exercised as between different petitioners.* 

In the years 1780 to 1800 the relation in which the town 
stood toward the center meeting-house was ill defined. There 
was a growing tendency to shift over upon "the Society 
belonging to the Centre Meeting House" or upon "M' Paine's 
hearers" the cost of repairs upon the church building; yet 
in many ways the town acted toward it as toward its own 
property. Thus, October 30, 1786, the town voted "not 



*The following certificates show the form in which liability for Ministerial Rates 
was determined. 

"To the Gentlemen Assessors of the Town of Sturbridge, — 

The following is a list of those persons who have certificated themselves from 
the Congregational Society in Sturbridge since the Last Retvirns. (Here follow 
20 names.) 

A true list from the Records of Sturbridge, Attest, David Wight, Town Clerk 
Sturbridge, Oct. 4, 1828. 

"Certificate for Universalists. 
We, the Subscribers, Edward Turner, public teacher, of the religious sect or de- 
nomination called Universalists, and of a Society of the same in the town of Charlton, 
and Jabez Lathe and Ephraim Willard, Committee thereof, do hereby certify, that 
Maj. Ephraim Morey, Capt. John Boyden, Isaac Hobbs, Lieut. Wilham Bowen, Stephen 
Jones and Caleb Nichols, are regular members of said Society, and that they pay liber- 
ally towards the support of preaching, and attend with us when able at our stated 
times and places for religious worship. 

Charlton, August 28th, 1807. Edward Turner, 

Jabez Lathe, 
Ephraim Willard. " 

22 



to Build a Powder House," but ''to Deposit the Town Stock 
of Ammunition in the uper part of the New Meetting House, 
and that there be two Electrical rods provided and put up 
at the New Meeting House and a good lock and key for the 
Door leading in the upper part of s'^ House. " A year later 
the selectmen were directed to store in the same place not 
only the ammunition but also "the warlike tools" or "in- 
trenching tools" belonging to the town. In 1799, however, 
it was voted to remove the town's stock of powder, etc., to 
an equally felicitous depository for explosives, the hearse 
house, which the selectmen were instructed to put in "Com- 
pleat order to receiving the town's magazine." 

It was in town-meeting that Cap* Wheelock, on his 
own petition, was given "liberty to take a seat in the elder 
pew. " It was in town-meeting that a committee was chosen 
in 1791 "to view and mark out the ground for warming 
Houses and Horse Stables " near the meeting-house, — a sub- 
ject which kept recurring, but on which nothing was done 
for years. In 1794 it was voted: "there shall be no Stoves 
[foot-stoves] left in the Center meeting house after the public 
worship is over;" any found there "shall be forfeited to the 
town." 

In this same year the aesthetic began to make its appeal. 
The town voted to "give Liberty to have the porch at the 
west End of the Center meeting house taken away, and instead 
thereof to have a Steeple or Bell Cony [balcony?] built," 
provided this could be done by special subscription "free 
from Laying any tax upon the town," and the steeple was 
forthwith erected. Apparently a bell was also secured in 
1794 by private subscription. In the first flush of joy over 
this new acquisition, a committee reported the following 
schedule of bell-ringing; "The bell to be rung ten minutes at 
a time three times on each day beginning precisely at the 
following hours viz in the morning at five of the Clock from 
the first of April to the first of October and at six o Clock from 
the first of October to the first of April, & at twelve Clock 

23 




Sturbridge Common, in 1821. 

This plot of the Common is here reproduced, on a reduced scale, 
from the sketch on p. 465, of the Sturbridge Town Records, 1798-1824. 
It gives an idea of the appearance and position of the Meeting-house when 
it had three entrance porches, and before it was turned, in 1864, until 
it faced southwest, instead of northwest, as in this sketch. 
The inscription upon the chart is as follows : 
"References. 
A. Land of Abijah Prouty Containing 12 square rods, which he pro- 
poses to exchange for the Lot B Containing 11 square rods, belong- 
ing to the town. 
D. Land of Capt. Perez Walker Containing 6 square rods, which he 
proposes to exchange for the lot C Containing 7 square rods belong- 
ing to the town. 
This Survey was made May 3d 1821, by a Committee appointed by the 
town for that purpose and exhibits a view of the Common and Bury- 
ing Ground in the Town of Sturbridge. The Common lying North of 
the Burying Ground Contains Six acres and Seventy rods including 
all roads passing over it. This Plat was Laid down by a scale of 
Eight rods to an inch. 

Samuel Freeman Surveyor." 

24 



at noon and at nine at night Except Saturday Evenings and 
then at Eight o Clock." The schedule for Sundays, Fast 
Day and Thanksgiving was elaborate. It was further pro- 
vided: "When the Saxon is notified of a Death he shall toll 
the bell fifteen minutes and after a pause of one minute if 
the Deceased be a male he shall Toll one minute [stroke?] if 
a female two minutes [strokes?] and after one other pause he 
shall toll the year of the Deceased persons age and shall 
toll the bell at the interment at town meetings as the 
Selectmen shall order." 

This report was accepted, but the record does not make it 
plain whether its recommendations were put in practice. 
A few months later it was voted that the bell be rung "on 
Sundays and at all public meetings as usual and particularly 
at Funerals." The inference may be that the other ringings 
were to be dispensed with. But later, for a number of years, 
by annual vote of the town the bell was rung "at twelve at 
noon and nine at night, and tolled for deaths, and on all funeral 
occasions, and rung for all town-meetings." A clock was 
another acquisition from some private source, but neither bell 
nor clock seems to have given satisfaction. Experiments were 
made in "new-hanging the bell. "* Twenty years later the sum 
of $100 was assessed upon the whole town for repairs on the 
"Town Bell," but the results were still so unsatisfactory 
that the town instructed its committee " not to pay any thing 
for the bell in its present situation," and in 1819 the question 
was referred to the committee on law-suits, with power to 
act, whether the town should authorize the commencing of 



*In 1807 minor repairs were made upon tlie frame of the bell carriage, etc. Some 
receipted bills show that the wages of the townsman who assisted were $1.25 a day 
while those of the man in charge were S2.00 The bill includes these two items: 

D C 

" to boarding Andrew Batchelder four days 1 00 

to two mugs of tody 40" 

The man who furnished the timber — he was for many years Town Clerk — sub- 
mitted an itemized bill, which had been fully summarized when this separate item was 
added as an afterthought: 

"li mug Todd at Mr. Browns $0.30" 

25 



action against certain parties named ''for the recovery of 
Damage for a bad Town Bell." Five years later, April 5, 
1824, the Town voted to exchange the old bell and clock for 
"a good new warranted bell of equal weight to the old one, 
hung & tried before the old bell and clock are delivered." 
But the clock did not prove salable; eighty years later its 
dismantled works were still standing in the belfry-tower. 
For several years a blank dial bore witness to a bad bargain 
in clocks, until 1831 when it was voted that ''the old clock 
face be painted white with the rest of the house." It was 
in 1833 that the Revere Bell was obtained, whose clear tones 
once more gladden our ears. 

Within a few weeks after Mr. Paine's death, the town 
voted "Unanimously to Come into some method to Settle a 
Gospel minister in the Center meeting house in Sturbridge, " 
and when, a few months later, the definite question arose, 
what action the town would take for the encouragement of 
Mr. Otis Lane "to settle in this town in the work of the min- 
istry," it was voted that the town of Sturbridge should pay 
him $400 annually, "so long as he shall continue in the work 
of the ministry in this town. " But a novelty was added in 
the proviso that in case a termination of the contract should 
be desired by Mr. Lane, or by "two thirds of the legal voters 
in this town of Mr. Lane's Society that are his hearers that 
pay taxes for his support," the party wishing the change 
should state reasons and give a year's notice, at the end of 
which time a Council might dissolve the relation "without 
making of it a question." Hitherto the settlement of a 
pastor had been for life. Did this new arrangement indicate 
that during Mr. Paine's thirty-eight years of service a new 
generation had arisen that had been wanting a change? 
Be that as it may, the forming of this terminable contract 
with the new minister introduced a pastorate which was to 
prove full of discouragements. The atmosphere of town- 
meeting had become unsympathetic for the debate and de- 
cision of matters relating to the Church. The Baptist Society 

26 



managed its own affairs by itself; but each year the question 
of Mr. Lane's salary came up in town-meeting, and a grudging 
grant was made of a sum "to be assessed upon M' Lane's 
hearers." Two or three times it was voted ''not to raise 
money for the support of the Rev*^ Otis Lane," the evident 
intent being to throw the whole responsibility definitely upon 
the people of his own religious body; but apparently it was 
in each instance decided that the existing laws and the form 
of agreement at the time of the pastor's settlement required 
assessment of his salary by town authority. In 1811 it was 
voted that $100 for completing repairs on the center meeting- 
house be "assessed on M"" Lane's hearers," as had come to 
be the case with the charges for care of the building. In the 
spring of 1815 Mr. Lane informed the town of his wish for 
a dissolution of the pastoral relation, giving as his reason: 
"the stipulated means of my support are found after a long 
and thorough trial to be greatly inadequate to the purpose. 
Hence have necessarily arisen embarrassments and perplexities 
evidently inconsistent with the office and a proper discharge 
of the responsibilities of a stated minister of Christ." To 
a town committee, which waited upon him "to hear his 
proposals," he replied, with unfortunate curtness, that "he 
had no proposals to make," — a reply which apparently gave 
offence where none was intended, for at its next meeting, the 
following month, upon the article in the warrant, to see if 
the town would pay Mr. Lane a reasonable sum in view of 
the great increase in the cost of the " principal articles of use, " 
it was voted to "allow him $200 in case he leaves town." 
With praiseworthy accuracy the town clerk adds the explan- 
atory note [the only one I have observed in the records cover- 
ing more than a century]: "The vote was passed in these 
words. I understand the meaning of the mover to be, when 
M' Lane ceased to be our Minister." 

Months passed. Mindful of the terms of the contract, 
the town authorities summoned a special town-meeting to 
assemble one year and a day from the date of Mr. Lane's 

27 



notice. It was an unprecedented condition which brought 
the voters to the meeting-house that day ; a good deal of feel- 
ing had been aroused, and keen curiosity as to what the out- 
come was to be. But when the meeting was ready to listen 
to Mr. Lane, whose notice of a wish for dismissal had been for 
twelve months the talk of the town, he did not take the floor 
himself, nor did any representative of his speak a word in 
his behalf; whereupon the town voted ''not to grant Rev*^ 
Otis Lane any further assistance to enable him to continue 
preaching here." Almost another year had passed before 
Mr. Lane broke his silence, and then it was to withdraw his 
request for a dismissal, — a request which he had apparently 
made with no intent that it be granted, but merely in the hope 
that it might lead to the payment of a more adequate salary. 
In a thinly attended meeting of the Church, its members 
voted that they did not wish his dismissal, but in town-meet- 
ing a large majority, on a motion alleging "the divided state 
of the people," voted in favor of putting an end to Mr. Lane's 
pastorate. A church Council considered the situation, and 
declined to dissolve the pastoral relation; but a month later, 
the Church meantime having voted 7 to 3 that under existing 
circumstances it was expedient to dismiss the pastor, the 
Council did so, February 24, 1819, on the ground that the 
opposition to him was so great as to preclude his usefulness. 
This unpleasant episode in our church annals has been 
told in some detail in order to make clear the tangled relations 
which still subsisted in many a Massachusetts community 
between the Church as a religious organization and the town. 
During his eighteen years of service here, this able and devoted 
minister felt himself constantly hampered and beset. To 
the embarrassments which were inherent in the situation, he 
added by his ill-judged and hardly ingenuous request for 
dismissal. Financial troubles were not the only discourage- 
ments which attended his work. In the year 1801 this Church 
suffered a secession of 20 of its members who later became 
the Congregational Church in Southbridge. Interest in 

28 



religious matters was at a low ebb in the town, and the pastor's 
records— for in those days the pastor was also the clerk of 
the Church — show that he was downcast. But at length 
the long-delayed harvest began to appear. In the months 
from February to June, ISlO—just one hundred years ago— 
he baptized fifteen persons. In the margin of the record he 
writes: ''To the praise and glory of Divine Grace be it spoken 
and remembered that at this time God remembered mercy 
& poured out his spirit on this Church & people." But re- 
action followed: in the years 1814 to 1816 but one person was 
admitted to the church. "None, it seems, says 'Where is 
God, my maker?'" writes the disheartened pastor. Yet in 
the last year of his ministry, despite the controversy which 
had arisen, there began a deepening of religious feeling which 
resulted in the addition of thui^y members to the Church. 

During the summer of 1819 the Church determined to 
extend a call to the Rev. Alvan Bond, a recent graduate of 
Andover, who had been supplying the pulpit, and through 
a committee requested the town to concur in their choice 
and to make provision for his support. The warrant for 
this special town-meeting summoned only "the freeholders 
and other inhabitants of the town of Sturbridge qualified by 
law to vote in the settlement of a Congregational minister. " 
By a large vote it was decided that Mr. Bond should "be the 
religious teacher of this Society." A salary of $600 was 
voted to him, and the contract was to be terminable after 
six months' notice at the option of either party. The new 
pastor was greatly cheered by the large accessions at the 
beginning of his service here. But soon the tide ebbed. In 
1822 there was but one member admitted, and that person 
came by letter. In the following year two were admitted 
by letter and only one on confession of faith. The record's 
margin contains the very human comment : "Here commences 
a time of stupidity." In the next two years there were no 
accessions: they are noted as: "Years of declension till Novem- 
ber, 1825." But the pastor had been tireless in his labors, 

29 



and the harvest now was ripe. In the year 1826, 55 persons 
united with this Church, and the record's margin breaks 
forth : '' This year God appears in his glory to build up Zion. 
To him be all the glory ! " Five years later there was another 
great revival which brought 44 new members into the Church. 
In the midst of this time of refreshing, the pastor requested 
a dismission that he might accept the professorship of Sacred 
Literature in the Theological Seminary at Bangor, Me. His 
devoted people granted his request, regretfully recognizing 
his "call to a more elevated station of usefulness." 

On the day before Mr. Bond's dismission a young man, 
fresh from his studies at Andover, preached his first sermon 
here, and when, a week later, the Society* voted to ''employ 
a public Teacher of Religion," it was this Mr. Joseph S. Clark 
whom they directed their prudential committee to employ 
"as a candidate for settlement in the work of the Ministry, 
if they can so agree with him." A month had not passed 
before both Church and Society, by unanimous vote, were 
ready to concur in extending to Mr. Clark a call to "settle 
with them in the work of the Ministry as their Pastor and 
Teacher." In his letter of acceptance, he wrote: "By the 
good providence of God, I am now ready as much as in me 
lies to preach the Gospel of Peace to you at Sturbridge." 
Such was the auspicious beginning of a most harmonious 
and fruitful pastorate. The young minister entered upon 
his work with zeal. In a single year "94 were added to the 
church by profession and 11 by letter. " An active campaign 
was carried on, along many lines, against intemperance, with 
the result that this vice which had been "the occasion of a 
very great proportion of cases of discipline in the church and 
more dishonor to religion than any other sin," was greatly 
reduced. t In 1834 the town was divided into districts 

*For the organization of the parish or Society, see p. 45. 

tThe Church adopted a vigorous set of resolutions, May 15, 1834, including the 
following: "That every Christian Church ought to practice entire abstinence from 
ardent spirit as a drink, and that no person ought to be admitted into the Church of 
Christ and no one shall hereafter be received into this Church but upon the practice of 
entire abstinence from the use, the manufacture and the sale of ardent spirit as a drink. " 

30 



embracing from 12 to 20 members, and to each of these were 
assigned two brethren to visit from house to house, and hold 
meetings. Results were soon apparent. In 1836 the mem- 
bership of this Church reached its high-water mark, — 337, 
of whom 115 were males and 222 females. The following year 
was one of great industrial depression throughout the country, 
and agitation over the slavery question was felt to be causing 
"spiritual dearth" in this community ; yet the pastor's record 
for that discouraging year reads: "The Sabbath School was 
never known to be in a more flourishing state. . . The 
number in the central School is increased to nearly 400; the 
Infant School to about 60. A school was also gathered in 
the Southern section of the town, numbering 50 or more, 
which has been maintained through the season." When 
ill health compelled Mr. Clark to seek dismission in December, 
1838, he could record that during these seven years of service 
in this, his only pastorate, "the Lord has added to this Church 
203 by profession, and 56 by letters of recommendation, 259 
in all. The whole number now connected with it is 325."* 
i\Ir. Clark was the fu-st historian of Sturbridge. His 
"Historical Sketch," an address delivered July 4, 1838, ten 
days after the centennial anniversary of the incorporation 
of the town, and his outline of Sturbridge "Ecclesiastical 
History," delivered in his own church the following Sunday, 
are addresses of exceptional merit, to which every later 
student of Sturbridge history must tm'n with gratitude. 
They reveal qualities of mind and heart which must have 
added greatly to his effectiveness as a public teacher of 



*Within six months after his regretted withdrawal from this pastorate, Mr. Clark 
was appointed Secretary of the Massachusetts Home Missionary Society, in which 
position he rendered many years of efifective service. Twoof his children have continued 
in missionary labors. His son, a native of this town, for many years Editorial Secretary 
of the Congregational Home Missionary Society, we welcome here to-day as the preacher 
of the dedicatory sermon (The Rev. Joseph B. Clark, D. D.) His daughter, Mrs. 
Caswell-Broad, for seventeen years worked among the Seneca Indians in Western 
New York, was then actively engaged in the North End Mission in Boston, and later 
entered the service of the American Home Missionary Society as Secretary of the 
Woman's Department. 

31 



religion in this community. The annual " Summaries" which 
he inserted in the Church records are very human documents. 
After comparing the pages which bear his writing with the 
records of the past forty years, I can not help deploring the 
change by which the pastor ceased to be the clerk of the 
Church. Within my own memory four men before the present 
incumbent have served as pastors of this Church, yet except 
for two sets of valedictory resolutions — not the most valid 
material for the historian — I defy any man to detect in the 
records or documents of this Church a trace of the personality 
of these men who have been charged with the chief respon- 
sibility in carrying on the work of the Church among us. 
What have they sought to do? What methods have they 
proposed and tried? What obstacles have they encountered? 
What Christian co-operation have they received? What 
has been effected? Hardly a hint to the answer to such 
questions is to be found in the records. They are perfunctory 
minutes of parliamentary proceedings and statistics of bap- 
tisms, and of church membership. Interesting and signifi- 
cant changes have been taking place in the spiritual life of 
this town during these two-score years. I cannot help 
thinking that it would have meant much not only for church 
history but also for church life, if each of these pastors had 
felt it incumbent on him to attempt the difficult task of 
recording these changes, as they affected the life and work 
of this Church. Nor can I doubt that a systematic and effec- 
tive religious leader in such a community as this would find 
it a stimulating if not always a cheering task, if at the end 
of each year, he should follow the example of Pastor Clark, 
and set down, for future generations to read, a "Summary," 
an annual ''balance-sheet" of the work in that corner of the 
Lord's vineyard committed to his charge. 

With the withdrawal of Mr. Clark, there ended the fifth 
pastorate of this Church. The service of those five men had 
spanned two years more than a century. It is significant 
of a wide-spread change in ecclesiastical relations that the 

32 



next five pastorates filled but fifty years, while, since 1888 
we have had four acting pastors, no one of whom has been 
installed. It is impossible in the time at my disposal to 
attempt more than the barest summary of what we might 
call the mediaeval and modern, as contrasted with the ancient 
history of this Church. 

LATER PASTORATES. 

Within a few weeks of the resignation of Mr. Clark, the 
Church voted unanimously to extend a call to the Rev. 
David R. Austin. The Society concurred, and on May 1, 
1839, he began a pastorate of devoted service which continued 
for twelve years and five months. In the first year of his 
work here he recorded: ''The tone of religious feeling has 
been very low during the year past. Oh that we may experi- 
ence a refreshing from the presence of the Lord." Special 
efforts resulted, the following year, in a growing number of 
admissions to the Church. During his pastorate the access- 
sions numbered 205, — 148 on profession of faith and 57 by 
letter; but these were more than offset by the very large losses, 
211,-86 by death and 125 by letter to other churches. "The 
year 1849" he writes "may be regarded as a year of special 
judgment to this Chh. and to the inhabitants of this town. 
The pestilence that walketh in darkness and wasteth at 
noonday has swept ten of our most highly esteemed and 
valued members into eternity, ... all strong and polished 
pillars in this Zion, 57 persons have died in this town during 
the year, almost double the usual mortality. An epidemic 
proved fatal to adults in the Spring and the dysentery to 
children in the Summer. There has been no special attention 
to religion in this Chh. during the past year; not one has been 
added to its numbers by profession. " " Desirous of relieving 
in some measure the burdens of those who remain," Mr. 
Austin voluntarily relinquished $50 of his salary. In the 
summer of 1851, his request for a dismission because of con- 
tinued ill health was reluctantly granted. In his last entry 

33 



in the Records he declared: "Great harmony and peace 
have prevailed. . . Nothing but an imperious necessity 
could induce me to leave so delightful a field of labor."* 

For eight or nine months the Church remained without 
a pastor, there being a feeling on the part of a considerable 
number that it was "not expedient & in the circumstances in 
which we are placed to give a call to any one. " June 2, 1852, 
the Rev. Hubbard Beebe was installed; two years later 
(October 24, 1854) because of the inadequacy of his salary 
and the feeling that the labors and embarrassments of his 
position were proving too severe a tax upon his strength," 
he was dismissed at his own request, having made little 
impress upon the Church or community.! 

For nearly eighteen months the Church remained without 
a pastor. Then the Rev. Sumner G. Clapp, who for some 
time had been supplying the pulpit very acceptably, was 
installed. He was a man of peace, who won the afi'ections 
of his people. In 1862, mindful of the increasing financial 
burdens of the community, as "a duty and privilege," he 
voluntarily relinquished a considerable portion of his salary. 
Because of advanced years and ill-health, at his own request 
he was dismissed, Sept. 2, 1862, cherishing the most cordial 
feeling for the people among whom he had labored. 

His successor was the Rev. Marshall B. Angier, installed 
July 1, 1863. During his pastorate of four years 84 persons 
united with the Church on profession of their faith, 41 being 
admitted on one Sunday (July 3, 1864). Benevolent con- 
tributions were substantially increased and the meeting-house 
was turned upon its foundation, and thoroughly renovated 
at an expense of about $2500. But the pastorate, which 



*Mr. Austin found in Soutli Norvvalk, Ct., a climate better suited to his health. 
He continued in the pastorate in that place till 1865, and died there in 1879. 

tMr. Beebe became pastor of the Congregational Church in West Haven, Ct. 
Later he engaged in secretarial work successively with the American Sunday School 
Union, the American Bible Society, and the American Seamen's Friend Society. He 
died June 21, 1885. 

34 



ended June 5, 1867, was a turbulent one, and left the Church 
sadly divided.* 

In the fall of the same year the Rev. Martin L. Richard- 
son, who had been pastor of the neighboring Evangelical 
Church in Globe Village, was engaged as acting pastor; he 
was installed June 29, 1871. Knowing thoroughly the diffi- 
culties through which the Church had been passing, he strove 
earnestly to heal the breach. He proved himself a useful 
citizen, serving the town as a member of the school committee 
and as a representative in the General Court. He was a 
musician of taste and skill, and a zealous helper in the work 
of temperance and literary societies in the community. 
Toward the end of this pastorate a radical change was made 
in the Sunday program which had obtained for nearly 150 
years : by vote of the Society in 1885 it was decided to have 
but one preaching service on the Sabbath. Until that time 
there had been a sermon both morning and afternoon, and 
a less formal service in the evening. Mr. Richardson was 
dismissed Oct. 14, 1888, having rounded out twenty-one 
years of service of this Church and community. 

These five later leaders, like their predecessors, here 
fought the good fight, against foes often harder to vanquish 
than many the first pastors encountered. For economic and 
industrial conditions changed the whole aspect of the town. 
In our shops and mills, yes and on our farms as well, the place 
of families who for generations had worshipped in the old 
meeting-house on the hill were taken by people whose race 
and creed were such that this Chui-ch could not minister to 



*It is something more than a coincidence that the Unitarian Society in Sturbridge 
was organized during this pastorate, by persons who professed "a growing dissatisfac- 
tion with the ministrations of Religion in Sturbridge, "—a feeling that those minis- 
trations did not answer "the wants of individuals craving a higher form of intellectual 
culture and a more comforting and encouraging dispensation of its truths. " Preamble 
to report of the preUminary meeting, March 14, 1864. 

After leaving Sturbridge, Mr. Angier held pastorates of Congregational Churches 
in Haydenville, Ipswich and Foxboro. In 1892 he became acting pastor of the Pres- 
byterian Church in Windsor, N. Y., and held that position at the time of his death, 
Feb. 25, 1894. 

35 



their religious needs nor enlist their membership and support. 
Largely in consequence of these changes it came about that, 
despite large accessions in two or three periods of revival, 
the admissions to this Church on profession of faith and by 
letter have fallen far short of making good the losses by death 
and by removal from town. 

There are those in this presence who recall every one of 
these men. They have now all passed to their reward, with 
the exception of Mr. Richardson, who, though retired from 
the ministry, is still rendering efficient and valued Christian 
service as one of the overseers of the poor in the town of 
Montague, Massachusetts. We had all hoped that we might 
have his benignant presence with us to-day, and that we 
might hear again the noble voice which for so many years 
led this people in prayer and in praise. Letters have been 
received expressing his deep regret that he found it impossible 
to participate in a service in which he has the keenest interest. 
The following names complete the list of pastors of this 
Church : 

Theophilus Beaizley, 1888—1891. 

Alexander Wiswall, 1891-1892. 

Augustus M. Rice, 1893-1902. 

John C. Hall, 1902 to the present time.* 



♦BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 
Theophilus Beaizley: 

Born in Tipton, Staffordshire, England, 1S33. Received his theological 
training in the London Theological Seminary. He was sent to Australia by the 
London Missionary Society in 1858. His longest pastorates were in Sydney, N. 
S. W., and Woodland, California. Since leaving Sturbridge he held pastorates of 
the Presbyterian Church at Anaheim and later at Fullerton, Cal. He died at the 
latter place, Feb. 16, 1908. 
Alexander Wiswall: 

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, 1846. Graduate of Dartmouth College, 1873; 
Bangor Theological Seminary, 1879. Since leaving Sturbridge he has held pastor- 
ates of Congregational Churches in Upton and Uxbridge, Mass. 
Augustus M. Rice: 

Born in Granby, N. Y.; reared in Minnesota and served one year in Union Army 
in cavalry regiment from that State. Graduated, University of Wisconsin, 1870; 
Chicago Theological Seminary, 1873. Mr. Rice came to Sturbridge from the pastor- 
ate of the Congregational Church in Royalston, and is now pastor of the Congrega- 
tional Church in Dunstable, Mass. 

36 



Of these later pastors, Mr. Beaizley died, a few years 
ago. It is a gratification to us all that both Mr. Wiswall 
and Mr. Rice have found it possible to accept the invita- 
tion to take part in this service which means so much for the 
people among whom they once labored. 

CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 

Beneath the murmuring pines in the burying-ground 
yonder for scores of years have rested from their labors the 
first tiiree pastors of this Church. Standing as a boy before 
then- quaint and crumbling headstones, my imagination used 
to picture them as grave and venerable leaders of a staid 
and sober flock. But the record reveals them in a different 
light. As Caleb Rice was the first, so he was also the youngest 
of the pastors of this Chiuch. He signed the covenant as 
one of the fourteen original members of the Church in "New 
Medfield" at the age of twenty-foiu-,— a young man with 
young men; for it should be remembered that this frontier 
community was settled mainly by the children of the Pro- 
prietors and by other youthful pioneers who had pushed 
forward to this remote hamlet to grow up with the country. 
The average age at which the first four pastors began their 
service here was twenty-seven years. 

Yet their youth did not make them disposed to be lax 
in matters of Church discipline. Applicants for membership 
in the Church were required to make a statement to the 
whole Church of as much of their Christian experience as 
they deemed proper, or to give the Church satisfaction in 
some other way. The Church chest contains scores of these 
so-called "Experimental Relations," belonging to the second 
pastorate. They show an anguished searching of heart 



John C. Hall: 

Born in Washington, Me , 1859. Graduated from Bowdoin College, 1885; from 
Bangor Theological Seminary, 1889; graduate student, 1889-90. Mr. Hall was 
pastor of the Congregational Church in Sutton, Mass., 1891 to 1902. His service 
in Sturbridge began in the summer of 1902. 

37 



which some of us to-day might call deplorably morbid intro- 
spection. Some of these ancient "relations" cannot fail to 
make a profound impression upon the reader, for they show 
strong personalities grappling with life's deepest problems. 
But it must be confessed that in many of them the similarity 
of arrangement and identity of phrasing arouse the suspicion 
that in making their statement before the Church these would- 
be members were virtually adopting as their own what had 
become a pretty thoroughly conventionalized "experience." 
It is probable that many of these statements which show 
similarity were written in conference with the pastor, if not 
by his own hand. 

EXPERIMENTAL RELATIONS. 
A. L., Read Dec. 16, 1761. 

"I haue grate reson for to bless God that I was borne in Land of gospell lite and 
was fauered with a good educasion and besides that many coles (calls?) of deuine prou- 
idence and at times was under conuictions but my euell hart and an inticing world 
senaed to make aU proue in a fecttuall but after a concidrabell time I was under stronger 
eonuict tions and after a conciderbell time I immagened that I receiued sum comfort 
but after sum time my fears ware beyond all my hoops and vuing my selfe in a very 
misirabell condision these wordse came to my minde why are thou cast doune o my sole 
and why art thou disquiatted within me hoop thu in God for thou shalt yet prase him 
and heare upon I took grate incoreaedment and suposed my mounting stood strong 
for concedrabell time but after sum time prouidence cast a book in my hand titeled 
Cases of conshanc and wreding hou far a person mite goo by natrull 
conuiction I thare upon thought that was my very case and all was counterfit 
and no hoops no promis for me I all most in despare but blesed be god who 
hath all pouer in his own hande so ordered that a book was cast into my hand titeled 
Looking to Christ by fath and reading there in found this grate promis Ezekel 36 : 2627 
A nu harte also will giue you and a nu sperit will I put with in you and I will take away 
the stony hart out of your flesh and I will poot my sperit with in you and heare upon I 
took incorigement and hearing a sarmon preched from the 50 of Isaiah 10 who is among 
you that feareth the Lord that obayeth the voise of his-sarvant that walketh in darkness 
and hath no Ute let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his god and hear 
upon I tuck forder incorigement and hearing a sarmon preached Luke 19 : 17 come for 
all things are now ready and heare uppon I trust I am coled uppon by the sperit of god 
he sayed this du in rembrence of me. 

trusting and believing that the Spirit of the Bride Say Come I Do in the fear and Pres- 
ence of God offer myself to full Communion with this Church of Jesus, asking your 
Charitable Reception of me and Prayers for me, that I may be Deliuered and kept 
from all Sin and walk as a worthy Member of the Mistical Body of + and that when 
I have Eat and Drink in his Presince I may not be Disowned by him. A. L." 

M. H. 

"I desier to bless god that I was born in the land of lite and liuead under the 
preaching of the gospel all my days and that I descended of shuch Parence that gave 
me up to god in baptism in my infancy but I have rebeld against god and my parence 

38 



in liuing in all most all manner of Sin in Sabath braking and Company Keeping and 
in disabaying my parnce good Counsel and in Structions that they gaue me in telhng 
of me it was my duty to Seek to god in prayer and Keep his commands thay told me 
that I must renew my baptismal covanant I being young thought it time Enough but 
it has pleased all mytey god to a waking me [by the pourful preaching of a samon by 
the re mr haven hosea 10 and 12 and maney outhers that I haue hard; and it Came to 
mind] for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to 
himself not discerning the lords body; which was a discouragement to me and then a 
nother place came into my mind which is incouraging Isaiah 55 and 1 and I hop dont 
a low my self in the omission of aney none duty nor in the commission of any none fern 
and I desire your prayers for me and your axceptance of me that I may walk acording 
to the Professon that I haue maid. • • 

Another "Relation, "in the same handwriting, is signed "The wife of M. H/' 
It is a literal copy of the above, except for the part included in the brackets The 
woman's ' ' Relation " reads: ' ' it has pleased all mytey god to a waking me by thunder 
many a time which is terrifying to me and puts me in mind of my duty: but I have 
been afraid if I should offer myself to come to the table of the Lord that I should come 
unworthily, for he that " as in the above. 

T> TLT 

•'•I desire to bles god that i was born in a land of gospel Ught and that i was early 
didicated unto god in the ordinance of baptizem and for many instructions and warmngs 
from my parents ^et haue Shamfully neglected my duty til of late i was brought to 
concider of my ways and was thoughtfuU about my futer estate whareuponi heard a 
Sermon from these Words and ye will not cume to me that ye might haue hfe which 
lay upon mv mind much whareas i Saw that i neuer had been Willing to be Saued from 
my Sins but only in mv Sins about this time i laboured under Sum temtasions and 
douts whether or no i had not cummitted the unpardonable Sin and the like whereupon 
these words came to my mind why art thou being the Kings Son lean from day to day 
wilt thou not tell me which aforded me Sum incuragement and also a reproofe then i 
began to Sit up great resolusions for a while but then i found Strength began to fail 
and as i thought the Spirit of god had withdrayn and that which i had greatly feared 
was now come upon me the view i had of eternity was dreadfull all hope faild and none 
could i blame but my Selfe for god apeared iust and where to go for releaf beter i cold 
not tel then to go to god who is mercifull as well as iust where upon douts and fears 
semed to uanish and i felt much reioyced but not continewing long heare i Sune fel 
into douts and fears and began to Scrupel all being afraid of Sum false hope and joy 
and So went douting for a concidrabel time yet not quite with out hope untill a more 
greater decouery of gods goodness and mearcey did apeare then all doutes and Screws 
uanisshed away and those words in Samuel came to my mind So the woman went her 
way and did eat and her countenance was no more Sad but this i am confident in bo 
far as i Know my own heart that i haue a greater desire and loue for the wais of god 
then formerly i had and i do acknoledg the many Sins and erars which i haue been gUtd 
of and ask forgiueness of god and of this Church asking your prairs to god for me any 
do now ofer my Self to your comunion 

The following "Relation" is indorsed "this was read & voted into the Chh Sept. 
11 • 1757 " and is apparently in the handwriting of the pastor, Joshua Paine. 

"I Desire to acknowledge the wonderfuU compassion & Patience of God towards 
me that He hath Born so long with me, when I have done so much to Provoke Him 
to come out against me & cut me do wn as a Cumberer of the ground : I must acknowl- 
edge I have been too careless & negligent about the things of my peace which indeed 
should have been the most regarded by me: but tho' I have so greatly sinned against 
God, grieved His holy Spirit, so that God might Justly have left me to perish in my 

39 



sins; yet I trust He hath not left off striving with me nor left me to perish without hope; 
I hope God hath opened my eyes, and awakened me to see my sin & misery, bro't me 
to Consider my ways that have not been right in His sight. I have had loud Calls & 
warnings not only from Gods holy word, but by His providence, particularly in that 
dispensation of God's holy providence in the death of my Consort: in which Gods voice 
to me was be ye also ready; & tho' I with Him but a little before his death made a pro- 
fession of Christ & his rehgion; & both joined together in giving up our Children to God 
in Baptism yet I am sensible that I ought not to stop there; but to come to the other 
ordinance even that of the Supper of the Lord: & which indeed was the advice & Council 
my Deceased Husband gave me when on his death bed giving me it in charge then not 
to neglect my duty in this respect: & lamented his neglect of duty in this particular, & 
determined had God spared his life & raised him up again to have come to His duty in 
this regard; Such Counsel & the dispensations of divine providence have been so sanc- 
tified & set home upon me, as I hope aright to stir me up to my duty; & accordingly 
I do now desire to join with this Chh; praying that God would freely pardon all my 
sins for Christs sake, & enable me to come aright, & asking your forgiveness of what 
you have seen amiss in me; & your prayers for me, that I might be a welcome guest & 
find acceptance with God thro' Christ. S. H " 

When Abigail applied for membership, in the 

first year of Caleb Rice's ministry, the Church voted: "Con- 
sidering the stories that have been about said Abigail 

we do think it proper to make searching inquiry thereto." 
A month later she was received into the Church, after having 
made open confession of gossiping and divers other indiscre- 
tions. But the exercise of discrimination as to the admission 
of members soon proved a less cause of anxiety to the Church 
than keeping watch over the walk and conversation of those 
already within the fold. Hardly a year had passed when 
the Church was given grave concern over the case of Lieut. 

Hezekiah , who was charged with having "taken 

up Rum upon Cap* Marcy's account at Leicester," and with 
having "indulged in vain talk." Twice it was voted that 

"the church are not in charity with said , so as to 

communicate with him at the holy sacrament of the Lord's 
supper, till such time as the matter is set in a clearer light," 

and Parson Rice was instructed to correspond with 's 

former pastor in regard to it. Some time later, 

craved forgiveness, and the Church voted that "we are now 
satisfied therewith, and look upon him in a regular state," 
but soon they were forced to affirm anew that they were 
"not in charity with him." 

40 



During the first pastorates there were an appalling 
number of instances where the Church stopped after lecture 
to attend the confession of Brother A. and Sister B. for sins 
which almost exhaust the list of the Decalogue. The "Rules 
for the Regulation of this Church," adopted July 15, 1802, 
required that confession for "known, open, scandalous sins" 
and for absence from communion should be made before 
the Church only, "unless the offense be of so gross and pubUc 
a nature that in the view of the majority of the Church present 
at a meeting on the subject it should appear more for the 
honor of the Chh and the interest of religion to have the 
confession more public, then in that case, it shall be made 
both before Chh and congregation."* The most frequent 



♦CONFESSIONS AND DISCIPLINE. 

"Whereas I the Subscriber have been left to be guilty of the breach of the Eighth 
Commandment whereby I have dishonoured God & Justly offended the people of God, 
I desire to be sorry therefor, & to ask forgiveness of God & all his people whom I have 
offended & pray that I may be enabled in all things to adorn the [illegible] of God our 
Saviour. U. W." 

Indorsement: "Sep: 10: 1749 This was read to the Chh & voted to be Rec** as 
satisfactory & the Chh in charity with him &c. " 

"I acknowledge that I am naturally inclined to rebel against God, & that I am too 
apt to give way to Passion & to be overcome thereby: I have been left in my Passion 
to abuse Cap*. C. & as an aggravation of the matter it was in his own house, for which 
I am sorry & as I have asked his forgiveness for what has then been amiss in me, so I 
desire now to ask forgiveness of God & the charitable forgiveness of Gods people, & 
your prayers for me that I might be enabled to walk for the future more agreable to 
the profession I make of the X° religion. 

Sturbridge Octo 22 : 1753. R. C. 

this was read Octo'' 27: 1753 & accepted by the Chh. " 

"Whereas we whose names are hereunto Subscribed have been left to fall into 
sin & have transgressed God's holy commands, we desire in a Suitable manner to be 
humbled before God & would take Shame to our selves for all our sins; more particularly 
we acknowledge we have been left to fall into the sin of fornication, a breach of the 
7th Command whereby we have greatly dishonoured God, have Justly provoked him, 
& given Just occasion of offence to the Chh & people of God: 

We hope God has in some good measure shewn us the evil of our ways & doings; 
we desire to ask forgiveness of God for Christs sake for all our sins more particularly 
the breach of the 7"^ Command we desire the Charitable forgiveness of the Church & 
people of God in this place & of all Gods people & that God would assist & enable us 
to behave our selves according to the rules of the gospel for the future. 

D. C. 
S. C. 

this was read to the Chh & accepted March 17 : 1744 / 5. " 

41 



offence was continued absence from church ordinances. This 
led to suspension; satisfactory excuses were required to be 
submitted in writing, or other evidence of contrition shown, 
otherwise it was declared that the erring member should be 
no longer "considered under the watch and care of this 
Church as a member thereof." In 1801 a considerable num- 
ber of such delinquents were called upon for explanations. 
Some pleaded unworthiness ; others, "perplexities in their 
minds"; one replied that her reasons "are of such nature 
that at present she does not choose to disclose them." A 
committee of the Church requested an interview with one 
absentee; when this was refused, they sought the brother out, 
but the only reason he then assigned for his absence from 
communion for more than a year was that "the meeting house 
had been repaired and altered against his will." This was 
not deemed satisfactory, and he was suspended from church 
privileges for the space of six months. In the first fifty 
years of this Church, a breach of the seventh commandment 
was the sin which a surprisingly large number of penitents 
confessed they "had been left to commit." In the first 
decades of the nineteenth century, drunkenness, which had 
caused an occasional lapse in the earlier years, became alarm- 
ingly prevalent. A deacon of the Church, after having been 
suspended and affectionately admonished, at the end of his 



"I whose Name is here unto Subscribed. Do humbly Acknowledge before God 
and his People my Manifold Sins in the agravated Nature thereof, and in Particulal 
by Injuring the Charector of M" R. by Sajnng that whereby it has been Reported that 
She has Infringed the 7* Command, whereby I Do acknolede I have offended God and 
his People, and Do first and a bove all ask forgiveness of God. and M'^R. and this Chh. 
asking your Prayer to God for me that I may for the future Live more agreeable to 
my Profession and my whatch over my thoughts words and actions, and be an honour 
to Religion and this Chh. 

D. W." 

"To the Jentlemen Committe of the Church of Christ in Sturbridg, Breatheren 

whare as I have Ben Called on to Shew Caws if any there Be why I have not attended 
the Communion for Some time past I answer that I have Ben Useed in a very un Chris- 
tien Like Maner By Some of the membrs of this Church therefore I have with Drawn 
my Self from them and Desire to Be Dismised from them. 

Yours &C 
Sturbridge September 12th 1798 O. M. " 

42 



probation had to be excommunicated on the ground that he 
had exhibited no evidence of reform. Charges were sustained 
against Sister J. that "it was very apparent that she was 
disguised with the use of ardent spirit," and Sister C. was 
"so intoxicated with spirituous hquor that she was unable to 
walk or stand." There are present to-day members of this 
Church who heard from their mother's lips the story of a 
scene in the old meeting-house which those who witnessed 
it could never forget. An honored member of the Church 
had yielded to his besetting sin. He appeared before a 
Church meeting at the house of one of the members and— 
as the record reads— "made his concessions for the sin of 
intoxication which he had recently in a wicked and thought- 
less manner committed. The brethren voted that they 
were satisfied with his concessions and that his acknowledg- 
ments be read before the congregation on next Sabbath." 
But he replied that his offense had been public and his con- 
fession should be no less public. There was a solemn hush 
in the meeting-house that Sunday morning, when this univer- 
sally esteemed and beloved village doctor walked up the 
broad aisle, turned, faced the congregation and confessed his 
fault . Sins of slander and of Sabbath-breaking were confessed . 
Again and again quarrels between members were brought 
before the Church for adjustment, and in some cases appeal 
was made to councils in which churches in neighboring towns 
were represented by pastor and delegate,— as in the contro- 
versy arising in 1777, in which one of the complaints was 
that "Cap* P. Did Condemn S*" C. (using a hard word) to be 
a Tory." The investigators declared it "not sufRtiently 
Proved that P. Ever Used such a hard word as is Mentioned 
in the Complaint Calling S*" Craft a Damned Tory," and the 
parties to the controversy were earnestly exhorted, in that 
time of public distress, to lay aside all contention and live 
as brothers.* 

*The tone of an eighteenth century Admonition may be indicated by the following 
extracts from a letter drafted by the seconr' pastor of this Church. It is not dated. 



These strange pages of our records have not been laid 
open here with the purpose of pointing the finger of scorn at 
the sins of our forebears. Their sins were those of their 
time and of a frontier community. Both by the young 
pastors and by the Church those sins were openly, vigorously 
and in large measure successfully combated. We affect to 
be amused or shocked by the weapons and methods of that 
godly warfare. In our day, drunkenness, stealing, and 
breach of the seventh commandment are not prevalent among 
church members as they were here in the first century of 
this Church. But it may well be questioned whether the 
twentieth-century church is waging more successful battle 
against the sins characteristic of its own day than did our 
grandsires. In the middle of the last century, by unanimous 
vote this Church declared that one of its members be 
"excommunicated from the Church and no longer be regarded 
or treated as a Christian," because he did not comply with 
the requirement of the Church that he confess before the 
whole congregation his " sins of Sabbath-breaking and the use 
of profane language." To-day these sins seem to be looked 
upon as venial, — indeed, rather difficult of definition. Church 



Letter of Admonition to E. A. 

The Church of Christ in Sturbridge Sendeth to Mr. E. A. this Letter of Admonition. 

We the Church of Christ in Sturbridge, acting for Christ, Do in the Name of the 
most glorious Lord our Saviour, whose Name you have Dishonoured by Serving against 
Him, Admonish you of and for these your Sins and in Perticular for 

1 Your Unchristian Conduct towards your Brethren. 

2 for your Pride and Self Sufficiency. 

3 for your Varying from the Truth. 

4 for your wicked and unchristian Reflection upon members of the Church of 

Christ in your Reasons for your Separation, wherein you Sugest and Say the 
Bread is Delt out to Dogs. 

5 fifthly we admonish you for your unchristian and unscriptural Reflections upon 
the Chh of Christ. 



O be wise to Resive this admonition that Cornea from the Chh of Jesus Christ. 
Repent and be Reformed before it be too Late. 

this from those that wish your Soul 
may Prosper and be in helth. 
Joshua Paine Pastor 

in the Name of the Church. " 

44 



lists to-day are full of dead-wood,— members who never 
come to the Lord's table, and whose sole tribute to the faith 
they once professed consists in the payment of a few sordid 
dollars, which some one else must put to use. The besetting 
sins of church members to-day, as compared with those of 
a century ago, are less those of the body, more those of the 
mind and heart. Are they on that account less menacing, 
less difficult to root out? In the old days the watch and 
ward of this Church were a vital force, following the member 
in his wanderings far beyond the borders of this town and 
making searching inquiry into his standing and daily walk. 
Under the censure of the Church sinners showed forth works 
meet for repentance. From a deathbed here in Sturbridge 
came a pitiful plea that the offender might "be forgiven and 
restored to communion and fellowship that he might die in 
peace and in good standing with the Church." To-day 
many a church carries upon its roll the names of members 
who would greet the notice of their censure by the Church 
with a cynic's smile or with a yawn. 

THE CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY IN 
STURBRIDGE. 

The first four pastors of this Church were "settled" by 
the Town, although during the third and fourth pastorates 
ministerial affairs were dealt with not at regular but at special 
town-meetings. Such a meeting, for example, was held in 
the early part of 1831, to which were summoned "the Inhab- 
itants of the Parish and Congregational Society in the Town 
of Sturbridge qualified by law for the purposes of voting in 
the choice of parochial officers and other Parochial matters"; 
and the Town records show that the voters there provided 
for the pastor's salary and for painting "their meetinghouse." 
But a few months later, without any formality that has left 
a trace on the record, the town-meeting machinery was given 
up. In the dismission of Mr. Bond and in the calling and 

45 



settling of Mr. Clark it was ''the Society" which concurred 
with the Church. April 27, 1831,* begin the "Records of the 
Congregational Society in Sturbridge." For nearly seventy 
years this was the organization which took charge of the 
financial or business side of church administration. t 

Its organization underwent some change from time to 
time, and seems never to have been very systematically 
regulated. In 1834 the rule was adopted that "all persons 
who may wish hereafter to become members of said parish 
shall be recommended by the Prudential Committee thereof. " 
Probably this was thought to savor too much of a close cor- 
poration, for half a dozen years later (April 20, 1840) it was 
voted that any person wishing to become a member of the 
Society might do it by applying to the Clerk. But ten years' 
experience led to the declaration that "the welfare and inter- 



*A little later (September 7, 1835) the completeness of the separation is indicated 
by the Society's vote not to give their consent to have town-meetings held in their 
meeting-house, after the present alterations shall have been completed. 

tBut for a time the Commonwealth still stood back of the finances. There is still 
extant an order, given in the name of the Commonwealth, by the Assessors of the Con- 
gregational Society in Sturbridge to Benjamin Bullock, Collector of that Society, direct- 
ing him to collect the sum of $600. from persons named in the accompanying list, and 
authorizing him, in case any of those persons should refuse or neglect to pay on his 
demand, to distrain their goods or chattels, and sell the "distress" at public vendue, 
retaining the amount needed to meet the assessment charges. In the absence of any 
such goods upon which levy might be made, the Collector was authorized to "take the 
body of such person so refusing or neglecting, and him commit unto the Common Jail 
of the County aforesaid there to remain, until he pay the same or such part thereof as 
shall not be abated by the Assessors of said town for the time being, or by the County 
Commissioners for the County aforesaid. 

"Given under our hands and seals by virtue of a vote of said Society passed on the 
twenty-eighth day of April last, this twenty-eighth day of October, 1831. 

David Wight, "j 

Erasmus Holbrook, > Assessors of said Society." 

Caleb Weld, Jr. J 

Imprisonment for debt was not then obsolete. In April, 1828, a deacon of this 
Church was committed to jail for debt. His creditors, after some weeks, were per- 
suaded to allow him to come out, upon payment of his board and other charges amount- 
ing to about $50. This sum two members of the Church agreed to become responsible 
for, at the solicitation of the deacon's wife, on security of some household goods and 
promissory notes. A few weeks later, the deacon's wife left town in the middle of the 
night, taking, as was alleged, some of the pledged goods with her to New York State, 
where she thereafter lived. This episode gave rise to some diflScult questions as to 
church discipline. 

4^) 



ests of this Society require a thorough reorganization of the 
same, so that the legal members of said Society may be 
known." January 14, 1852, the following "Preamble for 
By-Laws" was adopted: "Any person or persons who are not 
members of this Parish or Society may become such by signing 
their names to the following declaration : — 'We the subscribers 
consent to become members of the Congregational Society 
in Stur bridge.' " On the page bearing this record and on a paper 
pasted at its end stand the names of 97 men who were mem- 
bers of the Society in 1852, or then or thereafter "consented" 
to become members. Doubtless such signature was sufficient 
to constitute legal liability, but it is singular that nothing 
on the records sets forth definitely the objects of the Society, 
nor was there any explicit statement on the part of the signer 
of his devotion to the ends of the organization or pledge 
of financial support for the Society of which he "consented" 
to become a member. It was a very loose organization, 
subject to sudden expansion or shrinkage, for, in accordance 
with the Constitution, of Massachusetts, membership in such 
a body could be terminated at any time by the member's 
requesting the clerk to remove his name from the list. The 
unfortunate working of this arrangement was seen some 
forty years later, when eight members of the Society withdrew 
within two years of their having joined it, the debt meantime 
having reached very large proportions. The notes represent- 
ing this debt were gradually taken up by the Church. In April, 
1897, a new rule of membership was adopted: "Any person 
twenty-one years old may become a member of the Society 
by vote of the Society at any regularly called meeting and 
signing the By-Laws." The records do not indicate that 
any member was ever admitted under this rule, for, six 
months later, November 5, 1897, the Church became incor- 
porated as the First Evangelical Congregational Church 
OF Sturbridge. The new corporation was empowered 
to hold real and personal property and promote every 
object for which the Congregational Society had served. 

47 



The Church having agreed as a corporate body to 
assume and pay all lawful debts of the Congregational 
Society and to meet all the obligations thereof forever, 
the final record reads: (September 5, 1898) "The First 
Congregational Society of Sturbridge this day trans- 
ferred by deed, through their Committee, duly chosen and 
appointed for that purpose, all the real and personal property 
in their possession, with the records and papers, to the First 
Evangelical Congregational Church, and was, as per vote of 
the Society, thereupon disbanded and ceased to exist as a 
corporation." 

Until the end of Mr. Bond's pastorate, money for the 
maintaining of public worship at the center meeting-house 
was raised by taxes assessed on the inhabitants belonging 
to that society. In 1831 their collection was "put up to the 
Lowest Bidder," and struck off at $9. In the first year of 
Mr. Clark's pastorate, 1832, "the Society voted to try the 
experiment of raising money the present year by subscrip- 
tion, and the trouble of passing a subscription paper through- 
out the town be put up to the Lowest Bidder." It was 
struck off for $4.50, and the ringing of the bell and care of 
the meetinghouse with sufficient wood for the stove went 
to the man who bid $13.00. By 1851 a heavy debt had been 
incurred, which was raised by subscription. In that year a 
movement took form to secure the pews for the Society, by 
purchase or by gift, in order that their annual rental might 
yield the necessary revenue for parish expenses. A consider- 
able number were given up, and in 1852 began the annual 
sale of choice of seats and their rental for a stipulated sum. 
In 1855, after much preliminary negotiation and the calling in 
of two disinterested committees of out-of-town men as ap- 
praisers of pews, the consent of the old pew-owners was 
secured, and alterations were made in the plan of seating which 
furnished "more and better seats than it supplied before." 
The former pew-owners were compensated by being given title 
to new "slips," and the additional pews were sold. Under 

48 



date of March 10, 1856, there is recorded an appraisal of each 
of the 75 pews, at rentals ranging from $4.00 to $47.50.* 
It was arranged that a subsequent appraisal should be made 
by three disinterested men from out of town. In 1861 a 
debt which had reached nearly $1900 was cleared off, the 
donors being shown informal assessments on their property, 
when asked to subscribe. In 1863 it was voted to raise the 
appraisal of the pews to $1500. In 1879 it was determined 
to raise $1300, to pay current expenses, by rental of slips and 
by weekly offerings. In 1893 the plan of raising money for 
current expenses by pledged weekly offerings was definitely 
adopted, and the following year it was voted that the sittings 
in the church be free. 

In 1835 the meeting-house underwent a thorough modern- 
izing, and the old-fashioned square pews were removed. f 
October 18, when the Church and congregation assembled 
for the first time after this transformation, the church " was 
dedicated anew to the service of God." In 1856 the interior 
of the meeting-house was remodeled by placing the pulpit 
at the East end and reversing the slips. Eight years later 
the church building was again somewhat remodeled, and 
turned a quarter way around, so that its front was made 



*The pastor's record reads; "The Meeting House has been repaired and remodeled 
and the slips made Parish property and rented for the support of the Ministry. " 
September, 1856. 

tin a letter accompanying his donation toward the building of the new church, 
and dated on his eightieth birthday, (Sept. 26, 1909) Mr. C. H. Merrick of Ottumwa, 
Iowa, writes: "My memories of the departed Church reach back a little more than 
three-quarters of a century to the time when it had externally three entrance porches 
and internally the old-fashioned square pews with the spindle railings around their 
tops, although these memories are somewhat dim, for the modernizing of the Church 
was done I am quite certain before I was five years old. 

"That modernizing, however, I remember very well, and how, during the summer 
when it was done, services were held at the old yellow Vestry, which was enlarged for 
the purpose by taking out its windows and building lean-tos on its sides supported by 
rough tree-trunks set in the ground and seated with plain planks, the backs to the seats 
having been omitted to economize space or money or possibly both. 

"I remember, too, when the Church was well filled, the Walkers coming from the 
North, the Potters and Plimptons from the South, the Porters, Wheelocks and Stones 
from the East, and the Wights and Holbrooks from the West." 

49 



parallel with the main highway. In 1897 the old stoves 
were removed and a furnace installed. Six years later the 
"electrical rods" were removed from the building. In the 
summer of 1908 the "vestry" was moved from its former 
site, with the intention of joining it to the meeting-house 
at the north end and adapting it more fully to the social 
and religious service of the Church. But these alterations 
were never completed.* 

WOMAN'S WORK IN THE CHURCH. 

It is impossible to give statistics of membership for the 
whole period of this Church'^life for the reason that the records 
of Mr. Paine's pastorate of nearly forty years have been lost. 
They are said to have been stolen from his house. Taking 
the record of admissions for the rest of the period from 1736 
to 1910, they number 1250 of whom 411 have been males 
and 839 females. 

It will be remembered that of the original fourteen mem- 
bers of the Church of Christ in New Medfield all were men. 



*It is desirable that there should be placed on record a brief statement as to the 
other real estate which has been owned by this Church and Society. 

The original grant of land to Caleb Rice was to him as an individual and not as a 
permanent holding of the pastor of this Church. Most of this land he sold within a few 
years. His successors bought or rented houses suited to their needs. Thus, Mr. 
Austin bought the house now occupied by Mr. R. W. Gifford, and for some years after 
his own resignation, he rented this house, which was known as the "parsonage," to 
at least one of his successors. Twenty years later it became diflScult for the pastor to 
rent a conveniently located and comfortable house; for about a year Mr. Richardson 
had to rent a house in Snellville, a mile and a half from the church. Accordingly, 
March 30, 1868, the Society voted unanimously to buy a half-acre lot and build a house 
for a parsonage, and it was forthwith erected where it now stands. Fifteen years later, 
1883, a barn was built for the parsonage, as a gift from Mr. Chester Walker. 

The Rev. Mr. Bond was greatly interested in stimulating the young people of the 
community, and through his urging the "Vestry" was built to give an opportunity for 
social and literary gatherings, as well as for prayer-meetings and other week-day reli- 
gious exercises. Several years after its erection, the land on which it stood was deeded 
(March 2, 1831 ) by Capt. Perez Walker to the deacons of the Church and their successors, 
for the uses of the Church; it was to revert to his heirs and assigns, when it ceased to be 
so used. For nearly four-score years the Vestry was the scene of some of the most 
earnest and fruitful activities of the Church. Then, in the summer of 1908. it was 
moved to the rear of the meeting-house, but before the proposed alterations were com- 
pleted, both buildings were destroyed. 

50 



It was not the habit of the seventeenth century to accord 
much initiative in pubhc affairs to the "weaker vessel." 
But the next year seven women were admitted and only 
two men, and from the fourth year of the life of this Church 
the men, as is true in most churches, have been in hopeless 
minority. In the early years the women doubtless did their 
full share of the genuinely religious work in this community, 
but their activities were for the most part in the background. 
They occupied separate galleries and sections in the meeting- 
house, and it was an occasion for "large debate" in town- 
meeting, when a dozen of them petitioned for permission to 
build a pew where they could see the minister. In the church 
records of the first hundred years, except for the lists of those 
admitted to the Church, and except also for their considerable 
proportion of the cases of discipline, there is hardly any 
mention of women. 

There have been various women's associations connected 
with this Church, but most of them have been too informal, 
too modest, or too unsystematic to keep records of their doings. 
In 1812 there was formed the Sturbridge Female Society, 
which adopted a quite elaborate constitution, introduced by 
this preamble: "Impressed with a sense of the importance 
of Vii-tue & Religion & desirous of promoting them by every 
means in our power, we agree to unite together in a society, 
for purposes of religious improvement." Meetings were to 
be held the first Tuesday in every month for religious exer- 
cises and improvement. Each member was to contribute 
fifty cents a year for charitable and religious uses. It was 
stipulated: "Whatever shall be said or done, by any one in 
our Society shall not be made public." Beginning in 1812, 
there are 73 names signed to the constitution, the last appar- 
ently added in 1843, although there are records for two years 
later. The meetings were held regularly at the house of one 
of the members, who was paid two or three dollars a year 
for her trouble in supplying a work-room. The proceedings 
included prayer and reading from the Bible and from other 

51 



books of devotion, quite a library of which was gradually 
brought together by the Society, for use at the meetings and 
to be loaned to members. There are still extant scores of 
letters, written to be read at the meetings, by members 
who were obliged to be absent or who had moved out of town.* 
A committee was chosen each year to solicit donations, 
which were made not only in money but in labor, in wool, or 
in articles of clothing, etc. In 1829 it was voted: "That 
in consequence of having cloth badly manufactured that but 
two persons be employed in spinning our wool the present 
year and that they be paid for their services unless it be 
gratuitous." The following year the treasurer recorded: 
"Paid Mrs. Dunton seven yards of flannel for spinning and 
weaving our charity cloth." The disbursement of the 



*These were intended to contribute to the religious improvement of the members. 
Most of them detail the writer's own searchings of heart, and record her gratitude for 
the help received from the Society's meetings. One gives details as to the hopeful 
conversion of a frivolous young woman in Brimfield. Several report on the state or 
religion in the towns to which they have removed. The letters are very long. Their 
flavor may be indicated by one or two extracts. The first is from a much valued mem- 
ber, who had made her home in Homer, N. Y. 

(Jan. 15, 1827.) 
"Dear Sisters in the Lord 

Not all the flatteries of this vain world nor the kind attachments of surrounding 
friends can make me forgetful of the ties which bind my heart to my distant Sisters of 
Zion Little did I think when I received your kind token of friendship it would alain 
so long unanswered but did you know the many changing senes and afflictions which 
I have ben caled to pass you would not wonder and I presume you would excuse me if 
you knew what a task it is for me to write but I must be short for I have to take the 
midnight hours while my family are through the goodness of a devine pro teeter in health 
and silent slumber I was in hopes to have had time to a given you a full account of 
the out pourings of the holy spiret here among us the year past but I have not learnt 
the correct number that has been hopefully converted in all our Churches but proverble 
you will have the account in your panoplists [This was doubtless the "Panophst, or the 
Christian'sArmory," "Conducted byan Association of the Friends of Evangelical Truth," 
Boston.] this month, and as I expect you will receive these imperfect lines by the hand 
of Brother J G if his life should be spaird to arrive at Sturbridge, dear Sister Plimpton 
he will tell you more about our situations as it respect our religeous societies in twenty 
menits than I can write in an hour. ..." 

I must close with wishing you all the prosperity both in spirituale and temperal 
affairs that this imperfect world can afford in hast please to answer this by Brother J 
if convenient if not as soon as you can from your unworthy Sister in 
the Lord P Goodell 

I think if nothing happens I shall write again before long 

To the Sisters of the female Society. " 

52 



Society's donations was determined by vote at the annual 
meeting.* Occasionally special aid was given to some needy 
person in town. At the very first annual meeting, it was 
voted that "two dollars thirteen cents be given for the sup- 
port of the Bass Viol." Considerable contributions were 
made to different organizations to constitute the pastor a 
life member of them. But this Society of godly women 
specialized on aiding young men in their preparation for the 
ministry. Sometimes it was a Sturbridge youth who was 
thus favored. For quite a series of years the principal record 
was: ''Voted: To cloathe David T. Lane [son of the pastor, 



sturbridge, Jan. 19"> 1813. 



"To the Ladies of the Female Society in Sturbridge. 
Dear Sisters, 

Feeling impressed with a sence of the awful realities of etarnity I take this oppor- 
tunity to address you with a short Epistle on the Subject. For a moment let us cast 
our eyes on the ravages of time and consider how swiftly one after another passes away 
no age nor order is exempt from this bold ravager call.d death wherever and whenever 
it has has its commission it preys on the body without a moments delay, how oft have 
we seen bereaved companions sinking under a load of grief resigning up the partner of 
their youth and their dependance in, Old age, no bribe of gold, or appendage of honour, 
or the tear of grief, or the prayer of the Soul, can save from this predetarmined hour; 
how apt are we to promis or rather figure long life for a healthy child, we are apt to 
forget the emphatical word thou shalt surely dye; when we see the form, plump, the 
cheek rosy, the mental powers quick, and activ, the bodily organs performing with 
ease their function, we are ready to forget mortality and deUght ourselves with this 
mortal corruptable worm, which is as the flower which passes away, not suspecting the 
fallacy of our hopes or discovering the rottenness of our structure untill by some blast 
of sickness it falls motionless and inactive, never more to rise untill it shall be awaked 
by the mighty sounding trumpet of the archange, which shall awake all nations from 
their cold beds to the general judgment of the most high God; .... [After portray- 
ing the contrast between the resurrection of the redeemed and of the lost, and exhort- 
ing the sisters to watchfulness and prayer, she concludes:]" And may that God who 
hears prayers have mercy on each member of this society and crown them with that 
spiritual good which is life etarnal Patty Johnson. 

Pleas to excuse the liberty I have taken in writing with the length of this Epistle 
and errours in writing and shoul be glad to receiv a letter from each or any of you. " 



*Payments in 1824. 




Payments in 1826. 




"Carding wool 




.74 


Making pantaloons 


.50 


Weaving 




1.80 


Carding wool 


1.48 


Dressing 15 i of cloth 




3.03 


Flag handkerchief 


.92 


Making pantaloons 




00.58 


Pantaloons 


1.08 


Coat trimmings 




00.83 






One pair of fine shirts 




2.53 






One pair of Shoes 




2.00 






W. Bullock in part for 


making coat 


2.00 







$13.51 



53 



from whom the Society received appreciative letters of 
acknowledgement] and assist him as we are able." In 1828 
it was voted "that David T. Lane have all the Cloth that he 
needs, let it be more or less, and the remainder be sent to 
the Education Society." This was "The American Society 
for Educating Pious Youth for the Gospel Ministry," which 
that year sent to this Sturbridge band of women its receipt 
for " One Piece Flannel of 21 yds, worth $10.50 as a Donation.' ' 
Four years later the gift was more varied. The treasurer's 
record shows that donations of wool had been received from 
a dozen different persons, amounting in all to 22| pounds. 
It continues: 

"Made thirty-two yards of flannel and paid Miss Fay 
for weaving thirty-two yards . 75 

paid Mrs. Johnson for weaving twenty yards of flannel, 
the wool for this last web was collected in 1831. 1.60 

This fifty-two yards of flannel and a Box of Clothing 
containing the following articles was sent to A, Education 
Society. 2 Bed Quilts 2 pr Sheets 7 pr Pillow Cases, 9 pr 
Stockings, 3 Shirts, 6 Collars & 1 Towel, and Twelve Dollars. 
Received receipt. " 

In 1833 Mr. Clark mentions as one of the events of the year 
that a "Young Ladies' Reading Society had been formed 
with very flattering prospects." For many decades the 
Ladies' Benevolent Society has pursued its varied and useful 
labors. In the early days their pious fingers sewed for young 
men preparing for the ministry in Massachusetts academies 
and colleges. Much has been accomplished by them for the 
help of those in need in our own community.* 



*A most interesting and cheering instance of bread, cast upon the waters, returning 
after many days, has just been seen. Year after year, the women of this Church have 
knit and sewed and given money that the Uttle children in the "parish," so to say, 
of our good friend. Miss Remington, (the "Remington" settlement, Buffalo, N. Y.) 
might share in the joy of Christmas. And now when we have been trying to build 
again our Church home, little Italian children in Buffalo, by their grateful contributions 
of a few pennies apiece, have made a substantial donation to this Church, —a gift which 
must help to hallow these walls. 

54 



Mention should also be made of the fact that the women 
of this Society have proved excellent financiers. Again 
and again the proceeds of their sales and suppers have cleared 
off deficits, or provided needed repau-s or improvements; 
they procured the first pipe organ and thek treasury has 
contributed a liberal sum to the cost of building this Church. 

For a century, though zealous in all good works, the 
women seem to have obeyed the Pauline injunction as to 
then- demeanor and part in public meetings. In 1832 there 
is one record that looks far ahead: the Church was about to 
ballot for the election of a deacon, when the motion was 
carried that ''The Sisters of this Chh. be requested to vote." 
I find no other indication of their voting or being asked to 
vote until 1876, when the question formally arose whether 
the By-Laws should be so altered as to "give the Female 
members the right to vote in all Church matters." This 
additional By-Law was then adopted: ''All Members of the 
Church of the age of eighteen years and upwards, in good 
and regular standing, shall be entitled to vote, on all business 
that comes before the Church." Fifteen years later, (Sep- 
tember 5, 1891) it was voted to add two women to the Church 
Committee, and their representation in the management of 
the Church's most important interests is now fully assured. 

MISSIONARY INTERESTS AND ENDEAVOR. 

This Church has not been unmindful of its duty to bear 
its part in missionary effort. As early as 1808 it voted to 
join as a body the Evangelical Missionary Society of Wor- 
cester County, and to contribute $10 to its objects. Twenty 
years later the Church became auxihary to the Society for 
Mutual Assistance of the Churches, and for years this work 
was included among the objects to be supported by the con- 
tribution taken at the Lord's table. The proceeds of this 
collection also covered the cost of the communion bread and 
wine, the lighting and heating of the Vestry, and the "aiding 

55 



of the poor of the Church. A gleam of worldly wisdom (or 
a hint of some discouraging experience) is found in the vote 
of 1835 that a previous resolution of the Church to "support 
its own poor" be so modified as to limit its application to 
those who have their legal settlement in the town of Stur- 
bridge"; a few years later the vote to support the Church 
poor was reconsidered and rescinded, thus making poor- 
relief distinctly a secular charge. 

From time to time the Church contributed considerable 
sums to various educational institutions; thus, in 1834 about 
$40 was given to ''the College in West Tennessee," and $50 
was appropriated to assist young men of this town pursuing 
theu' studies in Monson Academy." For a number of years 
a most modern method was employed in administering our 
missionary benevolences: this Church voted that the $100 
appropriated by them for the use of the Home Missionary 
Society be applied to the support of the Rev. Benj. C. Cressey 
as this Church's Missionary at the town of Salem, Indiana. 
Letters from this frontier worker were read here, and he is 
repeatedly referred to in the records as ''the Missionary of 
this Church in Indiana." 

This Church felt the evangelizing impulse which led to 
the forming of the "American Board." During the pastor- 
ate of Mr. Bond, the Female Charitable Society was reorgan- 
ized as the Ladies' Society, and a Men's Association was also 
formed, the prime object of each being to develop interest 
in and support of foreign missions. The movement met 
with a surprising degree of success. Gradually foreign mis- 
sions became the most appealing object of benevolence, 
gaining while donations to other causes nearer at home were 
dwindling. This Church made its largest contributions to 
benevolent objects during Mr. Clark's ministry. In 1837, 
— the year of the great financial panic — while the Home 
Missionary Society was given only $69.25 in place of the 
customary $100, out of a total of about $610 devoted to 
benevolences there was contributed to the American Board 

56 



$323.03. And this was the very year in which the Church 
reconsidered and rescinded its earher vote to support the 
Church poor. 

CHURCH MUSIC. 

In the early days, both Church and Town recognized it 
as a duty to promote singing. Their activities in this regard 
overlapped each other. At the third meeting of the Church 
of Christ in New Medfield (March 17, 1737), it was voted 
that Moses Allen ''Set the Psalm in the Congregation upon 
the Sabbath day." What the substance of their tuneful 
lays should be, was determined in 1765, when the question 
in the warrant for the Church meeting "Whether we shall 
sing any other portion of the Psalms than we now sing, and 
if so whether tate and brady's with the Appendix of Hymns 
or Watts version of the psalms" was decided in favor of the 
former. In 1768 an article in the warrant for the town- 
meeting was to "See if the Town will grant the Petition of 
Sundry of the Inhabitants of the Town requesting they may 
have the Liberty of takeing their seats in the Meeting House 
in the front Gallery, or whare the Town Shall think proper, 
in order to carry on the Deuty of Singing with more regularity 
decency and good order." Permission was granted them to 
take their seats in the front gallery "for the better Carrying on 
Singing . . . Dureing the Town's Pleasure." Ten years 
later (November 18, 1778) a town-meeting warrant reads: 
"& whereas an uneasiness Subsists among a number of the 
Inhabitants of this Town in Regard to Singing in Public 
Worship on Sabbath Days, therefore: To See if the town 
will Enquire into the Causes of Said uneasiness, & pass such 
vote or votes as they in their wisdom may think most likely 
to unite the minds of the People in that part of Public Wor- 
ship." But "after some debate," it was voted not to act 
upon this knotty subject. The Church, however, was not 
deterred from acting upon the matter, and a committee 
was appointed which after several weeks of investigation 

57 



brought in a report setting forth clearly the differences which 
had arisen between the Singers who aspired to sing " b}^ Rule" 
and conservatives of the congregation who wished to continue 
to make melody unto the Lord, each after his own fashion. 
The records of the Church for that period are lost, so that it 
is not known what action was taken upon this report, but its 
admirable spirit must have helped greatly to relieve the 
strained situation,* 



♦REPORT OF A COMMITTEE IN REGARD TO SINGING. 

To the Rev'^ Joshua Paine, 

To be Communicated to the Church. 
Whereas there has been some very unhappy matters of Difficulty & uneasiness 
in the minds of Some in this Town, with respect to Singing in the Worship of God 
in our Christian Assembly, since the late Indeavours of Learning to Sing by Rule: 
The Church Did at a meeting on the 15th of July last, being Deeply Impres*' with a 
Sence of our unhappy Scituation with respect to Singing, it being more affecting con- 
sidering the sore Distress & Calamity wee are under in this Land: The Church being 
Desierous of Removing said Difficulties, cementing Differences, Restoring Peace & 
Preposeing some Plan, whereby wee might Carry on that part of Public Worship in 
Love & Harmony according to the Rules of good Order & Edifycation: the Church 
Chose us, the Subscribers, a Committee for that Purpose: — 

Your Committee have taken into their Sierious Consideration what appears to 
them to bee the Principle matters of Complaint & uneasiness Since the late attempt 
of a Reformation of Singing by Rule: on the one hand made by the Singers and on 
the other, by those offended by the conduct of the Singers in some Respects & other 
matters that have attended Singing; In the first place we Look upon it Necessary & 
of Importance; that good & Necessary Rules, for the Singing of Psalm Tunes be Learned 
& observed, & as a Likely means for this Purpose We Introduce the Noble Exhortation 
given by our Godly Forefathers, Rev'^ Ministers of the Gospel, more than 58 years ago, 
in their Preface to Mr. Walters Singing Book as follows: And we would encourage aU. 
more particularly our Young People, to accomplish themselves with Skill to Sing the 
Songs of the Lord, according to the good Rules of Psalmody: Hoping that the Con- 
sequences of it will be, that not only the AssembUes of Zion will Decently & in order. 
Carry on this Exercise of Piety, but allso it will be the more introduced into private 
Families, & become a part of our Family Sacrifice. At the same time we would, above 
all, exhort. That the main Concern of all may be, to make it not a meer Bodily Exercise 
but Sing with Grace in their Hearts, & with Minds attentive to the Truth in the Psalms 
which they Sing, & affected with them; so that in their Hearts they may make a Mel- 
ody to the Lord. Signed by the Rev^ M" Increase Mather Cotton Mather Nehemiah 
Walter, & others 15 in all. 

& now as to the Diffeculties & Discouragements the Singers have Laboured under 
since their vigorous Exertions of Learning to Sing by Rule often mentioned by them, 
as their not being Propperly Encouraged, & so many being opposed to Singing by Rule 
some People's leaving the Meeting House &c., as to Encouraging Singing we hope 
matters of Discouragement that are really such will soon be removed; if any their be 
who oppose Singing by Rule or Look upon it not necessary we hope they will weigh 
that matter in their own minds without Prejudice. Read Said Mr. Walters Reasons 
& Directtions, on that Subject, & whither or no it is even Possable that a Congregation 

58 



In 1793 the town voted to "appropriate to the use of 
the Singers the South East Square in the Gallery of the Center 
Meeting house." At about the same time a grant of £3 

Should Join togather in Singing & Carry it on in order, no one Knowing any Rule & 
so none could observe any; we trust this will Sattisfy them. 

another thing mentioned by the Singers is their Persons & Characters being In- 
juriously Treated; as to this wee know not the Persons nor the Perticular Sircumstances 
that have attended their offenses: wee hope those Persons will Seriously reflect on 
their Conduct & See the Importance of their Paying a Sollem regard to that golden 
Rule (of Doing to others as they would have others do to them) 

a nother matter of Discouragement mentioned by the Singers is their not ha^^ng 
Liberty to Sing once a Day without Reading Une by line &c as to this, the Singers as 
Individuals have a Right of Private Judgment, they to gather think that is best, the 
Church has the same Right, wee must strive to Enlighten each other, & hope we 
shall be lead to do right. Nothing is more common than opposition & Discourage- 
ment in a good work. 

With respect to the matters of uneasiness in the minds of some Relative to the 
Proceedings of the Singers in some respects Since the late Indeavours of Learning to 
Sing by Rule in our Congregation in the first place the Singers Ariseing to To Set 
the Psalm or Strike the Tune when the Quethiser or Quethisers, who were orderly 
Introduced to do that Duty being Present attempting to do their Duty were Interrup- 
ted, & this of the Singers was not as wee Suppose don on a Sudden by Supprise, but 
by before Determination: further their proceeding to Sing without reading hne by lire, 
no previous notice being given to those whose whose Duty it was to read, & haveing 
no vote of the Church passed to Sing without Reading. 

In this we Sincerely think many of the Singers are to Blame, Did not Proceed 
according to the Rules of Decency & good order; by which they have brought a Blemish 
on the good work they were Engaged in, for which they have good Reason to reflect 
upon them selves wee hope they will do honour to them selves & the Cause of God: by 
makeing Sutable Confession herefor. further it is our Real oppinion that their Intro- 
duceing of Some New Tunes & Especially Omitting Some Old Tunes: whereby Some 
who were Desirous of joining in Singing were Deprived of the Privilidge: was not for 
the Peace & Edifycation of our Church & Congregation. 

Upon the whole your Committe is Sencible there has been blame on both Sides, 
wee would by no means Discourage what is good & Praise worthy in our Children & 
young People in Learning good Arts Rules &c; & in Promoting Psalmody. Wee hope 
none will, they observing the Rules of good order & Edifycation; any Conduct to the 
contray wee look upon it to be our Duty to appear against, wee hope that wherein 
any have Injured the Persons or Characters of the Singers or hendered them in Pro- 
moting any good work, will be Sencible thereof, we hope we shall all be Inabled to 
Look at Home in this time of Trouble & Diffeculty: to Know our own Duty & do it. 
to seek after the things that make for Peac & wherby we may Edify one another. 

as to futer Proceeding in Carrying on Singing in Public Worship wee are Sencible 
that those that Lead need wisdom to Direct them: & that they will make use of Such 
Tunes as will be for the Peace & Edifycation of our Assembly in General.— & further 
that Psalms be Sung once on the Sabbath Days at the Concluding of the Divine Servis, 
by Reading one verse or half stave at once, for the Space of four months next. 
Sturbridge August the 21=*, 1779 

John Morse, \ 

Joshua Harding V Committee. 

Ralph Wheelock j 

59 



was made "to Encourage the Revival of Singing in this 
town"; this was devoted to maintaining a singing school 
under the direction of the selectmen. Five years later the 
town voted its approval of a contribution to be taken in 
church on Thanksgiving day by four specified persons, the 
proceeds to be placed in the hands of the selectmen to be 
delivered to "the Society of Singers when they Shall be under 
the necessary Regulations to receive the same." In 1802 
a committee which had been appointed to lay before the town 
some method for encouraging singing reported: "That the 
singers are Obliged to spend much time to acquire the art 
so as to perform that part of public worship decently, & to 
be at the expence of Books it is but reasonable that the town 
should grant them the encouragement of paying the master, 
& as there appears to be a number of Excellent voices that 
only want Cultivating we recommend that the town grant 
S60 to be laid out for that purpose to be assessed on the 
whole town & that the new parish draw in proportion to 
what they pay. " This recommendation was adopted. The 
following year the Church requested the singers to nominate 
such persons or persons as they "think most suitable for the 
service of conducting the singing in public worship" and at 
a later meeting proceeded to elect the four persons so named 
"to stand as choristers in the order as they are nominated, 
and also that the Chh. signify to the singing Society their 
respects for their past services, and wishes for the further 
continuance of said services in that important branch of 
social worship." 

In the first half of the nineteenth century the east end 
of the gallery was made into seats for the singers, who seem 
to have been accompanied by a goodly orchestra, including 
violins, a flute, a clarionet, a bass viol and a double bass. 
Judging from the treasurer's report, their performances for 
the year 1842 were the most strenuous, for then the charge 
"For bass viol Strings" mounted to $4.50. In 1840 the 
practice was begun of raising $50 by subscription to com- 

60 






The ''Old Center Meeting House." Built 1784-1789. 
Its Site, after the Fire of August 5, 1908. 



pensate "the leader of the Singers"; later, appropriations 
were made for this purpose among the regular parish expenses. 
For many years this service was rendered by Charles Fuller. 
About 1860 an innovation was introduced in the shape of 
a melodeon, soon replaced by a heavier one. The first player 
upon the new-fangled instrument was Theodore Snell, and 
for three score years from that day to the present the musical 
Snell family has been a chief dependence in this part of the 
service of the Church. When a pipe organ was installed in 
1876, mainly through the efforts of the Ladies' Benevolent 
Society, it was erected in the alcove at the rear of the south 
gallery, opposite the pulpit. Until 1902 the congregation 
accorded recognition of the singers' efforts by rising, during 
the second hymn, turning their backs upon the preacher 
and facing the choir. 

THE BUILDING OF THE NEW CHURCH. 

Between twelve and one o'clock on the morning of 
August 5, 1908, during a furious storm, lightning struck the 
steeple of the old meeting-house and set it on fire. The bell- 
rope was burned off almost immediately so that the bell 
could not sound the alarm. The scenes of that night will 
never be forgotten by those who witnessed them. The fury 
of the storm, the high-leaping flames, the crash of timbers, 
the fall of the bell were dramatic, indeed; but that was no 
place for idle spectators. Willing helpers did all that man 
could do to rescue every thing that could be removed, and 
to save the Town Hall and Library, both of which were badly 
scorched by the fierce heat. In a few hours there remained 
above the ground hardly a vestige of that noble old meeting- 
house where four generations of Sturbridge folk had been 
wont to gather for worship. 

In the gloom of the morning after the fire, the first word 
of cheer was a letter of sympathy from a committee of the 
Unitarian Society, cordially offering the use of their church 

61 



building at any time we might wish to use it. That warm- 
hearted invitation and its acceptance are both spread upon 
the records of our Church. The grace of Christian hospitaUty 
shown by our sister Society, in these months when we have 
been homeless, will long be held in grateful remembrance. 

The burning of the old meeting-house was a crushing blow 
to this Church. The future looked dark. To rebuild seemed 
a hopeless task. Weighty arguments were advanced against 
the expediency of building a new church in a community 
like this. And yet, there was gradually deepening the feeling 
that we must have a house of worship of our own, — that, 
however hospitable one's host may be, in church as in private 
relations, there is no place like home. On the fourteenth of 
October, 1908, after much anxious debating, it was voted 
"that we proceed to build a church," and committees were 
chosen to solicit funds and to consult and report to the Church 
plans and costs of a suitable building. June 7, 1909, Mr. 
George H. Clemence was chosen architect, and August 30, 
Mr. Orrin J. Aldrich's bid for the building contract was 
accepted. Friends of the old Sturbridge Church have given 
liberally of money and of service. Money contributions 
have been received from more than one hundred donors, 
ranging in amount from one dollar to two thousand dollars. 
Many, both within and without our church household, have 
made specific gifts which will add much to the new building's 
serviceableness. Thus it is due to the generous public spirit 
of one of our citizens that the clear and cheering tones of the 
old Revere bell are once more heard, and the tower clock 
will be a boon to all within sight or hearing of this place.* 

To-day, we see here the result of all this striving. It 
has meant much of devotion, of hard work, of sacrifice. To 
what end? Sentiment aside, this church family is far more 

*The old bell, which had been badly cracked in the fire, was recast by the gift 
of Mr. Alvin B. Chamberlain. It was erected by Mr. Henry D. Haynes, on a day long 
to be remembered by the children of the Centre Schools, for their hands "manned the 
rope" which raised the bell to the belfry. The tower clock was the gift of Mr. Melvin 
Shepard. The chancel windows and choir screen were given by Mrs. Ellen Hill Fisher; 
the west window, by Mr, Alvin Morse; the platform furnishings, by Mr. F. L. Chapin 

62 



comfortably housed in this snug, convenient building than 
ever before. But the love and loyalty which have built 
this church have not been put forth primarily to enable this 
church family to "sit at ease in Zion." The building of a 
new church was a mistake, — a waste of money and of energy 
sorely needed in other lines of Christian work, — unless this 
new meeting-house shall be made to minister to nobler Chris- 
tian living on the part of those who worship here and to a 
more intelligent, a more generous service of the community. 
Less than twenty years ago there was still much talk 
of the doleful present and the yet more doleful future of the 
hill town in Massachusetts. Sturbridge and this Church 
have felt heavy discouragements. The town's population 
dwindled and its elements shifted,— changes which were 
pitifully reflected in the lonesome handful of a congregation 
in the huge old meeting-house which sixty years ago used to 
be tlironged by worshippers from the four corners of the town. 
But the day for pessimism in Sturbridge is past. In many 
ways life here has become far more comfortable and attractive 
than it was twenty or even ten years ago. The change is 
typified by this very building, in the convenience and com- 
pleteness of its appointments in contrast with the bare and aus- 
tere old meeting-house we all loved. The physical facilities 
for the public worship and social activities of the Church are 
vastly better here to-day than ever before. What of the 
will? What of the spirit? The watchword of the new day 
is co-operation. Close-grouped about our beautiful Stur- 
bridge Common are our Library, our Town Hall, and two 
Christian Churches. What may it not mean for the future 
of this community, if the forces for good for which these stand, 
are raised to their highest efficiency by cordial co-operation! 
For you, who make this new meeting-house your church home, 
in this struggle for the higher life in Sturbridge the question 
is, are you eager to lend a hand? Are you ready, not to shrink 
from the problem, but rather to rise to the opportunity, of 
the Church in the country town. 

63 



APPENDIX A. 

Legacies and Memorial Gifts. 

Aside from the donations connected with the building of 
the new meeting-house, this Church, in the long years of its his- 
tory, has received many gifts of money, of church furnishings, 
and of service, which have borne witness to the filial devotion 
of sons and daughters of this Church, or of those whose fore- 
fathers worshipped here. Mention should be made of the fol- 
lowing legacies and memorial gifts. The dates are given the 
years in which the funds became available. 

1844. Mrs, Sarah Harding made this Church her residuary 
legatee. The legacy amounted to about $250. A part 
of this sum was used to repair the Vestry, and the rest 
to pay debts of the Society. 

1864. Mrs. Ebenezer Howard's gift of $100 was used for putting 
blinds upon the Vestry. 

1886. James B. Bullock, Esq., of New York City, bequeathed 
without restriction the sum of $5,000 to this Church, 
"where his dear parents worshipped for so many years." 

1890. A gift of $1000 was received "in memory of deceased 
parents, who were earnest workers in and for the Church. " 
"The interest only of this sum is to be drawn and used 
for the support of the gospel in said Church." It was 
the donor's special request that it should be credited 
to "a native of the town, though a non-resident." 

1891. Miss Sarah M. Wight bequeathed $250 to this Church. 
At the discretion of her executors it was expended for 
the painting of the meetinghouse. 

1902. Emerson Wight's bequest of $2000 became available. 
The interest only is to be used for the support of the Church. 

1909. William Wight bequeathed the sum of $500 to constitute 
the "WilUam Wight Fund," the interest of which is 
to be used for the benefit of this Church. 

64 



APPENDIX B. 



Deacons. 

The following is a list of those who have held the office of 
Deacon since the organization of this Church. The dates indi- 
cate the years when they began their service. The loss of the 
book containing the records of Mr. Paine's pastorate makes it 
impossible to assign dates in the case of Deacons who were chosen 
during that period. The longest service was that of Deacon 
Henry Haynes, from his election in 1853 to his death in 1899. 



1736, Daniel Fiske 
1736, Ebenezer Stearns 
1741, Isaac Newell 
1747, Joshua Baker 
1749, Edward Foster 
1764, Moses Weld 

Joshua Harding 
Job Hamant 
Roland Clark 
Eleazar Hebard 

1807, Joel PUmpton 

1808, Daniel Plimpton 
1822, Ephraim Lyon 
1826, Zenas Dunton 
1826, George Davis 



1832, James Chapin 
1846, Perley Allen 
1850, David K. Porter 
1853, Melville Snell 
1853, Henry Haynes 
1863, Charles Fuller 
1863, Henry E. Hitchcock 
1869, Isaac Johnson 
1886, William G. Reed 
1894, Lucius Snell 

1899, John F. Hebard 

1900, Henry D. Haynes 
1902, Charles W. Bradford 
1904, Benjamin C. Weld 



65 



APPENDIX C. 

Programme of the Dedication of the First Congregational 
Church in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. 

Wednesday, the Eleventh of May, Nineteen Hundred and Ten, 
at Half after Two in the Afternoon. 

ORDER OF SERVICES. 

Organ Prelude. — "Pilgrim Chorus . . . Wagner 

Miss Viola G. Packard 

Call to Worship. 

The Pastor 

Praise waiteth for thee, God, in Zion: and unto thee 
shall the vow be performed. thou that hearest prayer, 
unto thee shall all flesh come. O worship the Lord in the 
beauty of holiness. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving 
and into his courts with praise. 

doxology. 

The Congregation 

Invocation. 

The Rev. Alexander Wiswall 

Quartet.— "Festival Te Deum" .... Buck 

Responsive Reading. — Selection No. 4 

The Rev. John C. Hall 

Trio.— "The Lord will comfort Zion" . . . Brown 

Sp^rmon. 

The Rev. Joseph B. Clark, D. D. 

Quartet.— "1 shall be satisfied" . . . Brown 

Historical Sketch. 

Prop. George H, Haynes 

66 



Hymn.— No. 177. 

The Congregation 

Ceremony of Dedication. 

{The People standing and responding to the Minister.) 

Being prospered by the good hand of the Lord our 
God to finish the work, which in His providence we were 
called upon to perform, 
We do now, with gratitude and joy, solemnly consecrate this 

church. 

To the everlasting God, our heavenly Father; in whom 
we live and move and have our being; from whom cometh 
every good and perfect gift; and who so loved the world 
that He gave His only begotten Son to redeem mankind; 

To Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Lord and Saviour, 
who has promised to be with us alway, even unto the end 
of the world; 

To the praise of the Holy Spirit, Source of life and 
light, the Comforter whom the Father has sent to guide us 
into all truth, to convince of sin, and to renew and sanctify 
the heart, 

We dedicate this house. 

For worship in prayer and song, for the ministry of 
the word, for the celebration of the holy sacraments. 

We dedicate this house. 

For comfort to those who mourn; for strength to those 
who are tempted, for help in right living, 

We dedicate this house. 

For the sanctification of the family, for the guidance 
of childhood, for the salvation of men, 

We dedicate this house. 

For the fostering of patriotism, for the training of con- 
science, for aggression against evil. 

We dedicate this house. 

For the help of the needy, for the promotion of brother- 
hood, for bringing in the Kingdom of God, 

We dedicate this house. 
67 



As a tribute of gratitude and love, a free-will offering 
of thanksgiving and praise, from those who have tasted 
the cup of Thy salvation, and experienced the riches of 
Thy grace. 

We, the people of this Church and Congregation, now con- 
secrating ourselves anew, dedicate this entire building in the 
name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 
AMEN. 



Gloria Patri. 

Congregation 

Quartet.— "Still, still with Thee" 

Prayer of Consecration. 

The Pastor 

Quartet. — "Awake, my soul, to joyful lays" 

Prayer and Benediction. 

The Rev. A. M. Rice 



POSTLUDE. 



Gerrish 



Schnecker 



Selected 



Mrs. Arthur P. Plimpton 



The Wesley Quartet of Springfield 

Miss Josephine E. Floyd, Soprano 
Miss Josephine E. Floyd, Soprano Mr. J. H. Bailey, Tenor 

Mrs. William Ritter, Contralto Mr. C. D. Monroe, Basso 

Miss Viola G. Packard, Organist 



68 



